


Crayons to Catwalk

by Unspectacular



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fashion & Models, Designers, Fashion Designers, M/M, Makeup, Makeup Artists, Models, fashion - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-08-07 11:28:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7713277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unspectacular/pseuds/Unspectacular
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Follow Hinata Shouyou, fresh out of high school, as he tries to step into the legacy of his childhood idol, the Little Giant; an icon at Karasuno Modeling Agency, known for their professionality in the business. Little was he prepared for the chaos of encounters and emotions he will experience on his journey to join the once successful crows, who had now fallen and become "flightless."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> Blue and Jesi here.
> 
> Long story short, we all know (from the manga) that Ushiwaka-chan is the type to read about skincare ( "refreshingly silky smooth, hairless, beautiful skin") and Jesi and I met and talked over this topic; randomly spitting head canons based on that one manga panel in chapter 210. Then, one thing lead to another and now here we are with a story, set in an AU where instead of volleyball, the characters are all a part of respective fashion/modeling/makeup industries. Here's the first chapter. Enjoy!

Four years and the park had not changed a bit.

Of course, new slides and swing sets were set up and the place definitely had more benches than before but the atmosphere was still the same after all these years; calm, serene and welcoming. Hinata Shouyou remembers when he first moved into the area. He had been so excited that he literally tossed his luggage through the front door of his new apartment before hastily slamming the door shut again and rushing down the stairs, eager to explore. He had only been fifteen then but he begged and insisted his parents to let him live independently on his own once he started high school. Plus his parent's home hadn't been far; just a 30-minute bike ride over the mountain.

Hinata chuckled to himself and pushed his body backwards, then letting the momentum pull him forwards on the swing. He knew he would not get in trouble despite being a 19 year old on a children's swing set in the park for he (grudging) resembled one. 

The Gods had bestowed warm brown eyes upon him, similar to that of his mother's and wild ginger hair that represented the 'sun' in his name perfectly and rather boldly. Height, however, had never been something he had in abundance and Hinata often wistfully reminisces being the tallest in his class back in elementary school and the first year of middle school; right before everyone else in his grade had a growth spurt. Even some of the girls had left him behind!

However, his very small body contained a very big ball of energy and charisma and over the years, Hinata worked hard every moment. Although, he had to endure teasing and be the butt of his friend's jokes for some time initially, after making his dreams known, he never gave up and his dedication moved all. Hinata wanted, oh so badly, to become like "The Little Giant."

Some crows that were perched on the trees squawked loudly as they flew off. Hinata snickered and softly cawed back as he watched them disappear into the distance. It was on a day like this - a cold autumn day where the sun remained filtered behind the clouds but it gave just enough warmth to make the frequent swoops of the cold breeze bearable. He had been on his way home after playing baseball with his friends when something stopped him. Right outside a store he had passed so many times was a TV that was on. Nothing new; sometimes people passing by stopped to get a glimpse of the news, just as two old men were doing so as Hinata's bike skidded to a stop. But this time, something on the television screen did intrigue Hinata.

Small. That was what Hinata thought as he saw the boy on TV. The text on the bottom of the screen told him the boy was 19 years old but he looked no older than a middle school student did. The boy's lips moved as he spoke but only half his words reached Hinata's ears slightly muffled by the glass window of the shop. Hinata was very young to understand many things but as he had stared at the screen in that moment, he knew that despite the boy's small stature, there was something very big and very explosive about him.

Chiisana Kyojin. 'The Little Giant', they had called the boy on TV. He was one of the most successful designers and one of the youngest and successful managers, keeping the team at Karasuno Agency together. They also showed some slides of The Little Giant working and Hinata was amazed, as if he was not already. Small but calloused hands worked gracefully as the boy sketched out some designs for volleyball jerseys, those brittle looking fingers working fast and efficiently over the computer keyboard, designing graphics. Hinata had watched in awe.

"Chiisana . . . kyojin," Hinata had mumbled, before his friend, Izumi had come back from him and chided him that it was going to be dark soon if they did not head home.

The sound of children laughing brought Hinata back to the present. He hastily got off the swing and adjusted his beanie and his scarf. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his maroon jacket before walking away.

Hinata hummed as he walked back to his apartment. Indeed, it had been a long time since he saw 'The Little Giant' on TV and decided upon the same path he had walked. His parents chuckled and remarked on it whenever he would mention it, back when he was in middle school. His friends did too. However, it was only around his second year of high school that they realised he was not kidding. Hinata didn't want to go to college. He wanted to start interning and eventually working at Karasuno Agency. His parents tried to talk him out of it but when Hinata's stubbornness came through, his parents decided to support him; they just wanted him to be happy.

Hinata remembers as if it was yesterday that his mother came into his room and gave him a small key. He was confused at first since he couldn’t think of anything that could fit it but his mother insisted and when she gave him a soft smile he took it out of her small hands. She indeed always had delicate hands, something he inherit from her, but at this moment they looked like the fingers of an older woman rather than the hand of the person who cared for him for 15 years. 

She stroked his wild orange hair and Hinata realised how fragile she looked at that moment. How tired and kind of sad. She took a deep breath before letting out a sigh, trembling from the lump in her throat. “If you also leave this house, Natsu and I will be so alone since your father is often on business trips. But I want you to be happy and to achieve your dreams, so your father and I rent you an apartment on the other side of the mountain.”  
The words almost sounded foreign to him and he merely gaped at his mother, eyes blown wide and mouth open until Natsu popped her head into the room and spoke.

“Onii-chan, you’ll swallow a fly again. Close your mouth!” she snickered. 

Hinata snapped out of his trance and flushed in embarrassment, “That was one time!” 

Natsu and his mother laughed and it was a delightful sound to hear. The key in his hands felt warm all of sudden and it took him a second to realize the big smile he was wearing on his face when he heard these words. He hugged his mother all teary eyed, chuckling between the tears on his cheeks. They sat together for quite some time, Hinata asking several times if she was being serious with him, always with a big grin, looking down at the key as if it’s the biggest treasure he ever received. Natsu threw in her own gift too; a key chain with Hinata’s favourite volleyball mascot. 

Laying down on Hinata’s bed and watching the stars through his window they talked about how he will work hard to not let it go to waste and about old times when they often sat together and how his mother had to play model for his drawings. For his never ending present of drawings for his mother. She even kept them in a folder, chronically sorted from oldest to his most recent sketches.

Hinata, of course, had loved to draw since the day his mother got him crayons for Christmas when he was four years old. So the fact that he was pursuing something related to his hobbies was the cherry on top it all. He was not very good at it at first but he tried his best. His parents had enrolled him in art classes up until middle school. 

After he moved out around the start of high school, he decided to start working and paying for designer classes. It was tough, of course. Not because of the money (there was that too), but because his local area provided no such facilities. So he took sewing classes instead, blushing and babbling in the beginning as he had been the only boy in a room full of sewing machines and girls. He'd design and stitch (during rare times he had old clothes at his disposal) random outfits and have his friends try them on. The customers who came by the coffee shop he worked at knew of Hinata and his dreams too and often, Hinata would sneak in a few of his drawings to have them give him feedback. That had its own share of struggles too; Hinata always got an earful from the manager during times he'd get caught even if the customers backed him up. It had been a rickety journey but Hinata's will never ceased to exist. And now, he was finally where he wanted to be.

Initially, he had been planning to intern at Karasuno Agency and then eventually apply for a job there. But thanks to an unexpected encounter with a man with kind eyes named Takeda Ittetsu at the coffee shop and a few exchange of words and drawings on Hinata's part, the man told him that he worked with Karasuno Agency and told him of a program that involved the search for rookie designers. Hinata grimaces as he remembers how he had nearly spilled the contents of the coffee pot on Takeda's lap when he heard the words 'Karasuno Agency' tumble out of the man's lips. Hinata thanked him profusely and took up Takeda's advice on trying out. Hinata worked long and hard on his designs and attended the tryouts. Long story short, the judges were impressed and Hinata was in, along with another rookie; a friendly freckled boy by the name of Yamaguchi Tadashi.

Hinata dug around his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He unfolded and smoothed the paper out. He smiled for the umpteenth time that day upon seeing his letter of acceptance as a rookie manager at the place of his dreams.

He was so giddy with happiness, staring at the piece of paper in his hand that he walked straight into a pole. Hinata fell back on his rear. The redhead groaned as he rubbed his forehead. When he glanced up, he realised it wasn't a 'pole', rather a person that he had run into. 

The first thing Hinata notices is blue.

Blue like raw sapphires, jagged and fierce. Blue like the ocean on stormy days.

Hinata notices the person's, a boy who looked his age, eyes first because he had his nose and his mouth covered behind a mask. Black mop hair atop his head without a single strand out of place, the boy seemed to have this immense and intimidating aura, dressed in a grey sweater and black jeans. Over it, he wore a dark blue overcoat, which the breeze ruffled lightly at the ends, like the cape of a king.

The person tugged down his mask to reveal a mouth turned down, scowling at Hinata.

"Tch," he said. "Watch where you're going, shrimp. How old are you? Twelve? Ten?"

"Oi!" Hinata exclaimed as he got back up. "How dare you! I'll have you know I am eighteen years old. And you watch where you're standing. Clearly it is your fault so apologise!"

The dark haired boy loomed over him and it is exactly in moments like these that Hinata curses his height. But he didn't back down. He glared back as fiercely as he could and mustered up all his courage to face the very scary looking boy before him.  
The boy's phone suddenly buzzed and he tore his eyes away to stare at it. He seemed to pause for a moment, eyes scanning over a text he must have received. Then, he turned his cold gaze back on Hinata one last time before stuffing his hands into his pockets and crossing the road.

Hinata huffed aloud in annoyance as he watched the boy turn a corner and disappear down the streets. That guy got some nerves! Hinata stared back at the letter in his hand and shrugged. He was happy. He was finally a step closer to achieving his dreams. He wasn't going to let some stranger he was never going to see again ruin his happiness.

So Hinata resumed his walk home, humming a familiar tune, placing the thoughts of the very rude boy with piercing blue eyes in the back of his mind and his dream in front of him.


	2. Great Prospects

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're here with the first chapter!!

The sun was hidden behind a big pack of clouds. Not really appropriate for a first day at work but Hinata couldn’t care less about the weather when he’s about to enter the agency he dreamt of so many times for the first time. The building was made of concrete, small, unimpressive but with a big glass front and “Karasuno Agency” written on the side. It gave off a professional vibe but it also felt a big lost between the two big trees on the side which branches framed the building in a rather mysterious way. It lost something of its once so glorious presence.

Hinata’s stomach twisted uncomfortably. Always; his nerves always got the best of him during the most important moments in his life. For the umpteenth time that day, Hinata had to fiercely fight back the irresistible urge to run to the bathroom. He prayed to every God he could think of for a smooth day ahead.

Hinata waited nervously for Yamaguchi. The two rookies settled that they’d wait for each other and enter together but the anticipation let Hinata walk in a circle until there was a visible gap between the leaves on the ground.

He shivered as he pulled on his gloves and adjusted his earmuffs. He was worried he was overdressed for the day. Maybe it was not such a great idea for him to bust out his beige overcoat which he had gotten for himself at a sale in September. It was two sizes too big and he basically drowned in it but it was warm and it look good. Now he wasn't so sure anymore.

"Hinata, I'm sorry," said a voice behind him. "I missed the bus and had to wait for the next one."

Yamaguchi was, in Hinata's opinion, a pleasant person. He was a great listener and a great person to talk to. They'd met earlier at the job tryouts. Hinata had been cowering in the bathroom when Yamaguchi entered to wash his face to calm his own nerves down, and scared the living crap out of him but the two talked about their own nervousness and helped calm each other down. An odd start but the two had kept in touch and had become good friends within a short period.

Hinata turned and smiled as he waved to beckon Yamaguchi over to where he was. Yamaguchi dressed simple; a plain white shirt under a brown sweater and jeans with a black beanie atop his head. A vibrant green coloured scarf was wrapped around his neck, warm and snug. Yup, Hinata now definitely felt over dressed.

"So this is Karasuno," Yamaguchi said as he looked at the building behind Hinata. "Doesn't look like much, does it?"

"Does it matter?!" Hinata gushed excitedly. "We're here to do our jobs and we're here to make a difference!"

Yamaguchi chuckled, "Let's get going then."

The two entered the building together. A very delinquent looking attendant with blonde hair pushed back with a hair band at the reception desk pointed the two to Takeda's office rather lazily; down the hall to the stairs, the first door on the left.

Takeda met them halfway up the stairs. Other than his usual suit up head to toe, he wore a simple green tracksuit jacket over his dress shirt and tie and a pair of loosely fitted jeans. He beamed when he saw Hinata and Yamaguchi.

"Hinata-kun, Yamaguchi-kun," he said with a pleasant smile. He then adjusted his glasses before gesturing for them to follow him back up the stairs. "So glad you could make it. Let's go talk in my office. There are a couple of people I'd like you two to meet."

Takeda’s office was simple; the standard desk and office chair with a shelf about as tall as Yamaguchi towards the back. The white office walls were filled with framed photographs from the good old days when Karasuno was at the top of its game. Hinata’s eyes glowed with excitement as he recognised a few of them; he’d seen it on TV. His eyes scanned over the walls and fell upon a small frame in the top right corner of the wall behind Takeda’s desk; the Little Giant.

Then, he heard someone clear their throat.

It was then when he noticed that he completely overlooked the two people in the chairs opposite to Takeda’s desk standing up as they entered.

The blood flushed in Hinata’s face when he realized that firstly, he was indeed completely, overdressed for the heated room and secondly, he probably came off as rather rude for the first meeting as he seemed to have completely ignored the other people in the room. He stuttered an apologize and gained a nudge from Yamaguchi, which calmed him down a bit. At least he wasn’t the only one who will start freshly in the new environment. That reassured him to a certain extent.

The two people who stood up were both males but their distinctive features couldn’t be more different even if they seem to be the same height. One had short black hair, a strong muscular build and an aura of confidence and leadership radiating off of him without intimidating Hinata. The other one had a more slender, thin figure, grey-ish longer hair and a birthmark next to his left eye. But their eyes were soft and understanding so that Hinata immediately felt completely calm as he was surrounded by the air of these two people. Takeda introduced everyone to each other.

“Hinata-kun, Yamaguchi- kun. These are Sawamura Daichi and Sugawara Koushi. They will be your supervisor and mentor for the following weeks to make yourself familiar with the agency. Daichi-san, Suga-san, I already told you about the two rookie designers who will join our small company from now on. I’d suggest you to choose one person each and lead them around first.” 

They quickly agreed that Daichi and Yamaguchi will pair up what makes Hinata left with Sugawara. That’s fine by him as he already felt comfortable around the kind looking man.

“You seemed pretty distracted earlier by the pictures,” Sugawara said teasingly. Hinata flushed and began to blubber but Sugawara waved his hand. “It’s alright, it’s alright. I bet you were looking at the picture of Karasuno’s famous ‘Little Giant’.”

Hinata practically squealed, “Sugawara-san, you know about the Little Giant too?!”

“Well, when you bring up Karasuno, isn’t that who everyone thinks about?” Sugawara replied with a chuckle. He then wistfully glanced back to the pictures on the wall. “I don’t know him personally. Daichi and I, along with another friend of ours, had just joined the agency a year after he left. We were pretty much here since the beginning of Karasuno’s decline.”

“But we won’t let them call Karasuno “Flightless” anymore,” Hinata said, determination set in his tone. “We’ll show the world the Karasuno everyone once knew!"

Sugawara stared at Hinata and the latter had then realised that perhaps he had come off as rude once again. Hinata quickly bowed his head low, “I’m sorry! I got carried away with what I was saying!”

‘You don’t even work here yet, idiot!’ Hinata mentally scolded himself.

Sugawara simply laughed, “I like you already. And you’re absolutely right. We won’t the name of Karasuno be tarnished any further.”

The man named Daichi also came over to introduce himself to Hinata. Despite the air of authority he held, he was a pleasant man.

Suga led Hinata along the first floor to a bunch of white doors. As he opened them, he saw a spacious room with big windows and two desk with chairs standing in the middle. On the side were two wooden draft tables and a bunch of different fabrics together with a few mannequins.

“I’d say that’s your new office from now on, Hinata.” Sugawara welcomed him inside with a hand gesture.

“Gwaahhh!! It’s big! And there’re even draft tables!” he replied in awe at the sight of his room.

Sugawara explained this place to him. “All our designers are in this part of the building. Our tailor is just a few doors away but he’s rather shy so we won’t bother him right now. You and Yamaguchi will have to share a room for now since you’re both rookies.”

“That’s okay. We get along well, Sugawara-san!”

He waves him off with a shy hand movement. “You can call me Suga. No need for the long name. If you want you can let your coat in this room and we can go on. The building is heated so you won’t need it.”

Hinata actually wanted to start sitting on his own desk right away but he also wanted to explore his new work place as much as he could and so he followed Suga for a quick look into the other two designing rooms just to find them empty. One was neat and almost seemed unoccupied, in the other one where multiple designs flying around, together with unfinished pieces of clothings on both mannequins and on the floor and even if you tried to walk your way towards the desk, you’d had to step over scattered pieces of fabric (all unusually bright and neon with intricate patterns), broken pencils and a few cans of black coffee scattered around. Suga looked embarrassed and sorry for the untidy look but Hinata assured him that it would probably not take long for his side of the room to look similar to it. Besides, from Hinata’s point of view, the messy office gave him the impression that the occupant must have been a hard worker. 

They went back down the stairs.

“Suga-san. What’s your position here?” Hinata asked him as they walked along the red carpet that plastered everything on the first floor.

He looks back smiling and tracing off into the distance. “I’m kind of doing a bit of everything here. I’m originally a creative director, but sometimes I also take photos or help out our two secretaries. But I also have to model often. You know, we kind of only have 2 official models so everyone of us had to model at some point or the other. You wouldn’t believe the shortage in staff! Especially after our best designer, ‘The Little Giant’, left the agency. Most of the people slowly left us so rest of us who stayed or joined afterwards had to stick together to make it work. But we’re planning to make it to the top again!” He gave Hinata a determined look, filled with confidence and anticipation and Hinata felt that this was the right place for him.

“I stand by what I said earlier, Suga-san. Also, I may be short but when it’s necessary, I’ll give my best to model too!”, the orange haired boy stated what earned him a snicker from Suga.

“We also have someone short between us and he’s doing just fine with modeling. You’d be a big help for us, Hinata. Both, you and Yamaguchi, could become the trigger for us to reach the top.”

“Suga-san, I-”, but Hinata’s words were cut short as they heard loud voices from the entrance. They rushed towards the balcony above the reception to witness a tall blonde boy arguing wildy with a person with black hair. Hinata catches the words ‘Tyrant’, ‘not feasible imaginations’ and ‘lazy dumbass’ before Daichi rushes in with a startled Yamaguchi behind him to separate the two people. 

It looked pretty stupid; two ridiculously tall men arguing and being ripped apart like toddlers fighting for a cookie. Hinata pressed his palm to his mouth to muffle the laugh that left his lips but the hitched exhale of air was heard and suddenly he felt two pairs of eyes on him.

Once again, Hinata saw blue.

Hinata knew something about the day going so smoothly for him was so very off. When he got up that morning, he had that feeling in his gut along with his nerves telling him something was going to go wrong any moment but he had ignored it in an attempt to stay optimistic.

Oh why? Why was HE here at Karasuno.

It was only then Hinata realised the dread he had felt and brushed off had taken the form of the boy he had run into the previous day was right before his very eyes. The one who shoved him off so rudely. 

Hinata’s mood swung immediately from happy and excited to horrified and annoyed. 

What did he want here out of all places? He watched as Suga joined Daichi, laying a hand on his back and saying something so quiet that he couldn’t understand it from where he stood. But it resulted in both people going different ways; the annoying black haired boy going down the stairs and out the door and the blonde one sighing exasperatedly and talking about something with Yamaguchi, seeming completely unfazed from what just happened. Hinata vaguely wondered how he knew the blonde haired boy.

Hinata almost wrote the incident off as “stranger-being-confused-with-the-place” but when he still saw the black-haired boy standing outside, trying to calm himself down, Hinata took a leap of courage (he’d probably regret later) and ran down the rest of the stairs. He opened the door just to be welcomed by the strong wind against his now not so warm clothing, making him shiver a bit. The other boy wore at least a jacket but underneath, Hinata realised the boy had got on only a thin shirt and a tie. Nothing compared to the gloves and thick coat he wore before.

“Hey! What are you doing there?”, he shouted from the door not willing to step out any further. He’s not going to catch a cold for that idiot. But the boy didn’t even seem to hear what he said which basically forced Hinata to step outside. Fantastic! Curse him and his bad ears!

“Hey! You with the black hair, didn’t you hear me?”, he shouted again but this time closer to him.

The daggers of cold ice that the boy shot from his eyes in Hinata’s direction was way colder than the weather outside and could probably kill anyone in a 10 miles radius, Hinata was sure of that but he wasn’t willed to back down now.

“I don’t know why this should concern you. You’re the brat who run into me yesterday.” the boy snapped. So he did recognise Hinata!

“Did you come to apologize now? I may tell you that I’m a busy man.” The boy continued. “I don’t have time for some elementary schooler trying to impersonate his father.”

It was amazing how he didn’t even know the black haired boy’s name but the said boy managed to push all of Hinata’s buttons since the very first day. Now he managed to make Hinata angry. He clenched his fists on his side.

“I did not come to apologize as it was you who should look where he’s walking!” Hinata squawked back. “What in the world are YOU doing here?! I’m pretty sure you’re the one stalking me!”

“Stalking you?” the boy scoffed. “You think my life is that boring that I’d stoop as low as to stalk someone like you?”

Hinata was about to snap back but Suga called out to Hinata from behind him.

“Oh, so you and Kageyama know each other, Hinata?” Suga walked up to where they were standing. He probably noticed the tension in the air surrounding the two because he then said, “Am I interrupting something?”

“No, I guess we are finished here.” Kageyama muttered coldly as he stormed off in the opposite direction from where Hinata and Suga were standing, away from Karasuno.

A few moments of silence passed before Suga spoke, “So . . . I’m guessing you two aren’t friends?” Hinata didn’t respond. He glared at Kageyama’s retreating back. 

He couldn’t believe that he had to work alongside him now! Out of all the people!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dunnnnn!!
> 
> We're working on the second chapter. Hopefully, we should be able to update soon. Hope you enjoyed this one ^^  
> Got any idea on what the other members positions are? ;)
> 
> -Jesi and Blue


	3. Beginnings and Bad Blood

Hinata felt Suga’s hand on his shoulder as the orange haired boy trembled with tension.

“Let’s go inside again before we both catch a cold here.”

“Who does he think he is? This pompous idiot of stupidity.”, Hinata puffed his cheeks and turned around. He will show him who’s the better one! Suga had to hold back a snicker at the behaviour of him.

“How about I show you our cafeteria now? Maybe some meat buns can lift your mood.”, Hinata beamed up by the sound of these words and he was eager to follow Suga around a few corners until they reached an open room with glass double doors.

“It’s not exactly a cafeteria per se,” Suga said with a sheepish chuckle. “Not anymore anyway.”

The cafeteria was a simple and spacious room that looked bigger than the original size of the room because it was almost empty. The food courts were empty looking; just an elderly woman and a blonde haired at the counter. A couple of vending machines were lined together in the back of the room. The tables were shifted and arranged together into one large piece in the centre of the room with chairs all round. 

In the chairs of the right end of the table, closer to the door were two people and one sat across them on the left. The one on the left had a shaved head but had this gentle look on his face, almost like that of a monk. From the other two on the right, one had dark brown, almost black hair, that sat atop his head perfectly - not a strand out of place - almost sleepily like the look on his face while the other had light brown spiky hair. They all wore cameras around their neck and seemed very absorbed into a conversation. 

They all waved at Suga as he ushered Hinata in and approached the table. 

“Say hello to one of our new rookie designers, guys; fresh out from high school to support our team from now on!”, he said with an almost proud overtone. He looked at Hinata. “Go ahead, introduce yourself.”

“I’m Hinata Shouyou,” Hinata said, bowing. “Pleased to meet your acquaintance!”

“Welcome in Karasuno. I’m Ennoshita Chikara,” said the sleepy looking one. “That’s Kinoshita Hisashi and Baldy No.2 is Narita Kazuhito.” The one named Kinoshita stifled a laugh as the bald guy, Narita, reached out to punch Ennoshita in the arm from across the table but missed.

“We’re the camera crew or Karasuno,” Ennoshita continued. “Well, we are more responsible for all the technical stuff that’s coming up.” The other two cheered a short hello before Narita quickly pulled fast attack and tried to punch Ennoshita again but again, he missed.

“Don’t get mad at me, Narita. After all we have two people with shaved hair working here. It can be confusing sometimes.” Ennoshita said with a shrug.

“You’re buying me ramen for this, Chikara!”, but he sat down afterwards, somehow used to the behaviour of his friend.

Kinoshita spoke up, obviously not interested in the bickering of his two friends. “What made you choose Karasuno, Hinata? Our golden days are counted afte-ah.” The last part was a result of Suga smacking his hand on his head.

“Don’t be so negative, Hisashi! We’ll get to the top again,” Suga said, dramatically placing his hands on his hips. He then smiled as he met Hinata’s eyes. “Hinata came here because of ‘The Little Giant’. He had a really big impact on him how it seems.”  
“I’ll be the next Little Giant!” Hinata said, a little too loudly.

“Hmmmmmmmmm?! So there’s a Karasuno Ace Designer Wannabe now huh!!!” a voice rang out from behind Hinata. It surprised him to the extent that Hinata jumped a few feet forward before he turned around to see who it was.

“Ah, it’s Baldy No.1.” He heard Kinoshita say quietly.

Indeed, the person who had spoken was bald but unlike Narita, he had this look to him that made him look like a delinquent. He grinned down at Hinata, rather evilly from Hinata’s point of view. 

“You were saying something about being the new Little Giant ehhhh?” He leaned in close, too close for comfort. “You think the rest of us are just sitting ducks?!”

“Tanaka,” Suga chided. “Stop that!” Suga smacked the back of his head hard. Tanaka yelped and rubbed the sore spot.

“B-But Suga-san-” He started to say with a pout but ended up getting smacked behind the head again.

“But even so,” Tanaka said, turning his gaze back to Hinata. “Your hands are so small. Tell me, can you draw? Hm? Plus, you know we are short on staff and we require people to double task. You’re about as short as an elementary schooler. You think you can model?”  
“It’s true that I am small,” said Hinata. He looked at Tanaka with determination in his eyes. “But I trust and believe in the work my hands can do. I believe in my own art and designs so I’ll do my very best to serve Karasuno!”

The silence that followed made Hinata think he had just signed his death warrant. Especially since Tanaka’s gaze seemed to pierce right through him. What he didn’t expect was to be dragged into a headlock and Tanaka laughing boisterously.

“I like him!” Tanaka declared, still laughing. “He’s got spunk! Okay kiddo! I’ll take good care of ya. Whatever you need, you tell me and I’ll be there to guide you.” He struck a nice guy pose which everyone visibly cringed at. Everyone except Hinata, who was shaking in his boots with excitement. Hinata was practically puking rainbows and had stars in his eyes.

Tanaka held his nose up high in the air, “Go ahead. Call me Senpai.”

“Tanaka-senpai!” Hinata exclaimed.

Tanaka laughed even louder than before, “One more time.”

“Tanaka-senpai!”

“Again!”

“Tana-”

“Enough already,” Narita cut in. He had gone to the food stall to get meat buns and handed one each to Suga, Hinata and Tanaka. “Here. To celebrate the joining of a new member.” The three gave their thanks in union.

“We baldies are such nice people,” Tanaka said dramatically with a hand on his chest. “Narita, you are a jewel!”

“Pfft yeah right,” Narita scoffed. “I went to get meat buns for Hinata and Suga-san. But Saeko-san insisted we take it for free. Thank your sister. She thinks you’re skipping out on your meals and wants you to eat better by the way.”

Tanaka flushed red and mumbled out something that sounded like “Shut up, baldy”. 

“Thanks, Saeko-san!” Suga shouted with a smile to the blonde woman at the food court. She seemed to be on the phone with someone but she turned at the call of her name and waved back with a toothy grin. Hinata bowed in her direction.

“We’ll hand this to the other rookie too.” said Narita. Holding up another meat bun. 

Suga held out his hand, “He’s somewhere in the building with Daichi and Tsukishima. They should be here soon so I’ll give it to him.”

“Will do.” Narita said as he handed the meat bun to Suga.

“Did you look out for Kiyoko-san? According to my knowledge, she got a new haircut just yesterday and Noya doesn’t know it yet.” Tanaka said in between bites of his meat bun.

Suga nodded knowingly at his words and turned to Hinata who chewed down the last bits of his snack. He flashed a peace sign and winked with one eye, visibly excited on what to come. “I guess it’s time for you to meet the eye candy of Karasuno agency, Hinata.”

“Sugawara, have you seen Daichi?” a melodious voice rang out just as the words left Suga’s mouth. What intrigued Hinata was that it was the first feminine voice he had heard all day. As he turned his attention to the cafeteria door, he felt the blood creep up to his ears.

A woman - sleek black hair and eyes to match - dressed in a white blouse, black pencil skirt and black stockings underneath was walking in their direction. The clack of her black stiletto heels echoed throughout the cafeteria as she walked, a yellow folder in hand and a pair of glasses atop her nose. When she got closer, Hinata was able to see the pink colour of her glasses and the beauty mark on her chin.

He blushed even more; he had never been good with girls.

Tanaka, however, did the exact opposite of him and stepped forward instead of shying away.

“Kiyoko-san!” He called out loudly, although she was within hearing range.

“I think Daichi should be on his way here; he’s still with Tsukishima and the other newbie,” Suga replied. The woman, Kiyoko, nodded in understanding. “Ah, speaking of which, this is one of the rookies right here. Hinata Shouyou, meet our beloved secretary and part time model, Shimizu Kiyoko.” Kiyoko’s eyes dropped onto Hinata and Hinata felt like the heat from the blood rushing to his brain could promptly kill him in that moment.

“Welcome to Karasuno.” She said with a small bow of her head; a nod of acknowledgement. 

“P-P-P-Pleased to meet y-your aquarius!” Hinata stuttered out.

“Aquarius . . .?” Kiyoko echoed vaguely.

“I think he means acquaintance.” Ennoshita said, Narita and Kinoshita laughing quietly at his side. They patted Hinata on his back and bid their goodbyes before the trio exited the cafeteria. 

Tanaka was losing it with laughter, “Aquarius?! What are you even thinking about?”

Kiyoko offered a small smile, “Nice to meet you too.” Hinata wanted to die.

“Kiyoko-san, you look as lovely as ever.” Tanaka chirped. She promptly ignored him and walked away towards the food stall.

“Damn, it turns me on when she ignores me like that!” Tanaka practically squealed as he hugged himself as if Kiyoko’s cold behaviour had really given him chills.

“Let’s sit down as we wait for Daichi and the others okay?” Suga said, ushering Hinata and Tanaka to the tables. They sat down and eat their meat buns. Hinata had dreaded that the cafeteria food would be bad and he would have to live off on ramen again since he had sucked at making bentos but the meat buns were warm and delicious. 

“Daichi, over here.” Suga waved his hand to beckon Daichi, Yamaguchi and the tall blonde boy from earlier over to the table.

“Oh, you guys are already here huh,” Daichi said, sitting across from Suga. “Where is Kageyama?”

“He left the building,” Suga said with an exasperated sigh. He pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand and brought the meat bun up to his mouth with the other. “What am I going to do with him?”

“He has to adjust to us, otherwise we have no other choice then to kick him out. At our current state, we can not afford to deal with some kind of post-puberty behaviour like his. No matter how good someone’s ought to be.” Daichi's words were harsh but Hinata could hear a slight sound of desperation out of it.

He clenched his fist again, outraged by the problems this idiot Kageyama seem to give the others.

“He thinks he is so great all because he seems a little bit creative with his ideas that no one can turn into reality anyway. Talking about insane notions right here.” The blonde boy said, pushing up his glasses. Yamaguchi let out a puff of air that sounded like a mixture of a laugh and a sigh.

Daichi gave a look into his direction. “Tsukishima, that’s not-”, he was interrupted by Hinata slamming his first on the table. Insane notions. He had heard these words so often since he decided to go to Karasuno and work there as a designer and he hated how they sounded. He was so often the butt of his friend’s joke, was discouraged by elders and shamed that his interested weren’t manly enough but now he was here. The thing he dreamed off to become was now one step closer in his reach despite the people saying that his insane notions will never become reality.

He definitely did not like the boy from earlier but he couldn’t stand anyone randomly deciding something was impossible for someone else.

“And just who do you think you are?” he asked, his eyes fixated on the tall blonde boy. Taking in the appearance of the blonde boy, he was clearly the tallest from everyone Hinata had met that day. The tall boy pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Grudgingly, Hinata noted how this person must definitely be a model with his height and simple but stylish choice of clothes; a black leather jacket over a deep rich violet coloured sweater and denim jeans and black satin gloves. His face might have passed as decent too, Hinata thinks (not that he’d admit it out loud EVER), if he hadn’t opened his mouth and gone off blowing up that image into smithereens with his sharp tongue and awfully snarky personality. He looked down on Hinata with a cold stare, very openly judging him.

Hinata didn’t like this guy one bit.

Yamaguchi was fast to answer instead of him. “Ah, Hinata, that’s Tsukishima Kei, a friend from school. It’s thanks to him that I was able to apply to Karasuno in the first place.”

“Why do you get so worked up about him anyway?” Tsukishima said, tilting his head to the side, a sardonic smile gracing his lips. “Weren’t you the one who had an encounter with him outside? I guess then you saw his ‘mightiness’ in action or did you thought he’s one of those misunderstood people that will change when meeting the right person?” Tsukishima was clearly mocking him from above with the advantage in height.

Daichi attempted to say another thing but he again was interrupted by Hinata. “I don’t like him, that’s for sure. He’s a pompous idiot from what I saw but you have no right saying his ideas are insane just because no one knows how to implement them!” Hinata was almost furious, his voice reverberating in the room when he suddenly got pressed down his chair by Tanaka.

“Cut it out, Shrimp. Don’t start a fight on your first day.”, his voice seemed composed but his eyes were as cold Hinata’s. Dachi stood up and he looked murderous even as he suppressed the desire to shout for being so often interrupted before.

“I guess it’s the best if we all dismiss here and calm down somewhere else. Suga, I suggest you finish showing Hinata everything. Yamaguchi and Tsukishima will come with me.” and with this words he turned around and left, expecting the others two follow. Yamaguchi hesitated for a second and then left with an apologetic bow in Hinata’s direction.

“Ah, I don’t like people like him. He didn’t even acknowledge his senpais even once.” Tanaka muttered, crossing his arms.

“Seriously,” Suga deadpanned. “That’s your concern?”

“What?” Tanaka protested.

Suga shook his head like he was disappointed. He then turned to Hinata, “Are you okay? Tanaka was right earlier. You did get pretty riled up.”

“I don’t like people like Kageyama, but I don’t tolerate people like him even more,” Hinata said, gesturing with his thumb in the direction where Tsukishima left. “I got called names before way too often by people like him; people who don’t acknowledge other people’s dream.”

“I see,” said Suga. He placed his hand on Hinata’s shoulder. “But you need to understand that here at Karasuno, we value teamwork more than anything. We need to stick together so you’re going to have to try to get along some time or the other.”

Honestly, Hinata did not like the sound of bonding with Kageyama or with Tsukishima but he stiffly nodded anyways.

Suga smiled warmly, “Alright. You didn’t see the photography studio and our props room yet, did you? Let’s head on over there now.”

Tanaka, Suga and Hinata made their way to the photography studio. Before Hinata could take in the whole room, he noticed two figures standing in the centre of the room. One of them was Takeda, who was facing the doorway.

“Sup Take-chan?” Tanaka drawled out with a yawn as he walked into the room first, followed by Suga and Hinata.

Takeda smiled and said a hello in acknowledgement. The figure who stood talking to Takeda with their back to the trio turned and it was the last person Hinata wanted to see at the moment.

“Um . . . I believe you two got acquainted already earlier,” Takeda said slowly and sheepishly. “Hinata-kun, this is one of our fellow designers who joined us just last year, Kageyama Tobio. Kageyama, this is Hinata Shouyou.”

The air surrounding the said two seemed to have dropped a hundred degrees.

Takeda cleared his throat awkwardly and fidgeted. Tanaka was trying to muffle his laughter and mumbled “Shit’s about to go down” which made Suga pinch him on his side.

“C-C-Come on now,” Takeda laughed shakily. “Don’t just stand there! Shake h-hands or something.”

Takeda felt like he just pulled the pin off a grenade and gulped as Kageyama took slow strides towards Hinata until he was standing right in front of the shorter boy. Hinata’s nerves were getting to him again and he wanted to run away from the gaze Kageyama was throwing at him. But being the stubborn boy with a competitive soul, Hinata held his gaze and glared back as best as he could. He clenched his fists to stop his hands from trembling. 

Neither Kageyama nor Hinata said a word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a kudos if you enjoyed :)  
> Or comments, we appreciate everything ^^  
> We'll give our best to update soon!
> 
> -Jesi and Blue


	4. The King And His Entourage

It felt as if they just entered an ice chamber.

The air around them turned bitterly cold and their facial expressions kept emotionless for the duration they looked at each other. The tension that hung in the air was thick enough to be sliced through with a knife. Hinata could hear Takeda stuttering something but his mind was too occupied from the freezing gaze thrown at him to understand it. He gulped hard before he took a step back and stuck his hand out to him, not breaking eye contact.

He stared at the hand for what felt like an eternity. Nobody said anything and the only sound came from some crows fighting outside. Kageyama’s eyes moved back to Hinata’s face and then he brushed right past Hinata, leaving the rest dumbfounded as he made his way to the door, the outstretched hand crippling in the air.

Suga followed him with his eyes and shoot back to Hinata as he called out. “Kageyama! What’s your problem with me?”

He stopped midway, visible surprised about the question.

“I see no use for me to spend my time with you. I saw your designs. Nothing out of the ordinary, unfinished blueprints, unsteady lines. Unclean work. I’m willing to talk to you when I see a use in it.” and with that he left.

Tanaka was quick to follow a “Why that little- get back here, I ought to teach you a lesson!!” behind and growled with his fist held high.

“Tanaka, are you a dog or what? Stop it. Will you be okay Hinata?”, Suga asked, making a few steps into his direction. Hinata who stood motionless in the middle of them all, face held down and his thick ginger hair falling in front of his eyes, remained quiet as his mind proceeded the harsh words. His knuckles turned white as he clenched them even harder, digging his nails into his skin.

He sprinted out before Suga’s hand could touch him, upstairs to the office they planned in for him and Yamaguchi and to his bag. He pulled out all the designs he took from home and spread them out on his desk.

Hinata always thought he was good. Not perfect but decent. He knew he lacked in areas but he relied on his strong will and his own hard work. He often only received compliments from his surroundings, may it be strangers in the coffee shop or his friends. He was confident in his abilities. For someone so pompous, a person he had just met at that, to say something like that about his efforts stung him.

Hinata wasn’t usually like this. He wasn’t particularly sure why he was hurt by the words of someone who barely knew who he was and what struggles he went through to get to where he was right now. Perhaps, Hinata thinks, it is because deep down he knew that what Kageyama said held some truth. Now he saw just what Kageyama pointed out; undefined, messy scribbles of a dreamer who thought everything would be alright if he just kept believing.

“Hinata, are you okay? We saw you run over here.” Yamaguchi said, as he entered the room. Tsukishima followed, which didn’t really do much to improve Hinata’s mood.

“Ah, we heard the argument between you and Kageyama,” Yamaguchi started to say apprehensively. “Don’t think too much about it! He must be having a very bad day himself. Right, Tsukki?! Say something . . . um . . .”

“Hah,” Tsukishima drawled out. The edges of lips twitched up into a sarcastic grin. “Oh you mean the self-centred King? No, that’s pretty much who he really is.”

“Not helping.” Yamaguchi muttered desperately under his breath.

“King?” Hinata asked, confused. Was Kageyama really that good? Was he so high leveled that people actually referred to him as some sort of King. It annoyed Hinata to no ends.

“What? You don’t know?” Tsukishima questioned, his words laced in mock sympathy. “You haven’t heard of _the_ Kageyama Tobio? Why, he is the King of Artistic Precision, of course! A genius whose level of art is of high caliber. People call him a prodigy.”

Hinata probably didn’t notice Tsukishima’s grin stretching wider across his face or Yamaguchi’s worried expression at that moment for he was overwhelmed with the feeling of inferiority and of intense competition. Kageyama Tobio. King of Artistic Precision, was it?

“He’s probably right though,” Tsukishima continued. He had moved behind Hinata near his desk and was now examining the scattered drawings. “Your skill level is basic and your designs are pretty unusual. But coming from _His Majesty_ , the words are rather ironic considering how he himself is.”

“What do you mean?” Hinata asked. “Oh you’ll know soon enough,” Tsukishima said, the firm assurance to the words he uttered left Hinata feeling uncanny. “The King will rule once again.”

For Hinata, he was now a person whom he would have to surpass on his way to the top.

Without another word, Hinata ran out the door, brushing past and startling Yamaguchi in the process.

 

“Did you have to tell him all of that?” Yamaguchi said with an exasperated sigh. “I mean I get Hinata’s stamina can be quite a handful to deal with but he’s not a bad person.”

“Those kind of people are the most irritating to deal with,” Tsukishima replied. “I already didn’t like that King. I definitely don’t like the shrimp either. They can go bother each other.”

“Still Tsukki, you shouldn’t rile them up like that.” Yamaguchi said, his gaze turning back to linger at the door through which Hinata had just run out of.

Tsukishima pushed his glasses up, “I do not like hot-blooded people. Those kind of people, the kind of people who get fired up for no reason, annoy me the most.”

Yamaguchi snickered, “You made such a big deal of Kageyama looking down on Hinata. Didn’t Kageyama say something to you as well when you first met? Something about how your lack of enthu-”

“Shut up, Yamaguchi.”

“Gomen, Tsukki.”

 

* * *

 

 There were a few sure facts about Kageyama Tobio.

Kageyama hated to lose. He hated being out of his element. Above all, he hated incompetence. He loved art. He loved the idea of bringing to life something that could have merely died as a passing thought in the brain or a vision behind closed eyelids. He relished in the feeling of gripping the pencil and letting his thoughts pour over paper in the form of vivid shapes and colour. Words and verbal expression had never been Kageyama’s strong points. His art did all the emotional expressing for him.

Kageyama took pride in his work. His choice of colour, his lines and curves and his use of geometric shapes in his designs. His peers back in Kitagawa Daiichi School of Art praised him. He was told several times his sketching skills were at a higher level than most his age. But he still lacked in creativity. It wasn’t as though Kageyama completely lacked in it but what he had been told was that his work was almost robotic. Precise and In all honesty, Kageyama felt he would do better if he was on his own. But he wasn’t conceited enough to think that teamwork was unnecessary. He knew great agencies made themselves known by working together to achieve greatness.

But never had Kageyama felt that sense of unity with the people he had to work with. Thinking back on his last year in art school only brought back unpleasant memories and left a bitter taste in his mouth.

At present, the orange-haired newbie annoyed him to no ends.

They say first impressions count the most. Well, in that case, Kageyama believes Hinata was absolutely the type of person he would not want to work with or even get along with for that matter. He had seen some of the draft designs and drawings Hinata had done. Initially, he hadn’t known the drawings belonged to Hinata. Heck, he hadn’t even known he was the shrimp of a boy who had run into him on the street. Takeda had shown it to him personally, by calling him into his office that morning.

“I don’t know,” Takeda had said, placing his coffee mug back on the table after taking a sip. “I look at this boy’s designs and I can’t help but feel that although you have opposite styles of art, both of you are expressing the same thing in different ways.”

Kageyama had scrunched his nose as an answer. He couldn’t see any bit of similarities between them that apparently Takeda had seen. But he did feel like the designs were very bold. Kageyama remembers one of the drawings he had seen.

It looked like a basic white polo shirt but on the right bottom side, something that looked like watercolor splashes sprouted from the fabric in different colors and turned into more brighter swirls and circles. The rest was kept blank, except the red tartan pattern on the collar that set a contrast to the clean white of the fabric. It felt like it could tell a story no one would seem understand and that unsettled Kageyama more than the inaccurate use of thick and thin pencil strokes.

He did have it all; the passion, the determination and although it was irregular, his designs were unique. No, the word was ‘creative’. It was clear to see Hinata wasn’t the humble artist who stuck to precision much like Kageyama did. He was the type to go all out with intricacy and boldness. That was something Kageyama found infuriating and a little daunting as well.

Kageyama entered the cafeteria. No one was currently there, not even the staff. Perfect. He didn’t really need confrontation at the moment. He went to the back, towards the vending machines and proceeded to get himself a carton of milk.

Even if Hinata possessed the mindset and creativity, his overall skill was pretty average and wobbly. Not to mention the fact that his personality put Kageyama on edge and he often got overwhelming urges to rip all of Hinata’s hair off his little head every time the redhead opened his mouth.

“HEY!” A (grudgingly) familiar loud voice pierced the air, almost causing Kageyama to choke on his drink. He turned to meet the glare of Hinata, standing at the door panting hard, with one of his own.

“What?” Kageyama replied. Yup, he definitely didn’t like this guy.

“If you’re what everyone calls a King amongst common people,” Hinata declared, his voice cracking a bit at the end. Kageyama’s heart clenched uncomfortably. He watched as Hinata clenched his fists so tightly that they turned white. He had his head lowered and from where he was standing, Kageyama noticed small droplets fall from his face onto the ground. Hinata was crying.

“I’m going to be the one to surpass you and be the very best!” Hinata faced Kageyama with tears streaming down his cheeks but what captured and held Kageyama in place was the steely look in his eyes, a look that made Kageyama freeze. The words died in his throat. He found that he couldn’t look away from Hinata’s gaze.

“Don’t call me that. King.” Kageyama managed to replied. “It won’t do you any good to be so bold with your emotions. You want to be the one surpassing me? Are you sure about that? With where you are right now?”

Hinata brushed off his tears on the sleeve of his shirt. He stared at Kageyama, that annoyingly fierce fire in his eyes refusing to die anytime soon, “Don’t underestimate me when we just met! I agree I might have a long way to go before I reach the top . . . but I’m sure I can beat whatever you have, you cocky bastard!”

Did Hinata want to die so young? The answer was no. But he swore if looks could kill, Kageyama’s gaze would have him drowning in a puddle of his own blood.

Kageyama then tilted his head back and smirked, “You? Beat me? Can you even colour within the lines right?”

“Ah, I found them!” Suga’s voice vaguely ran out in the background. The sound of footsteps shortly followed and soon Tanaka, Suga, Yamaguchi and Tsukishima entered the cafeteria as well.

“Oi, oi, oi,” Tanaka began. “Don’t fight, come on! You’ll get Daichi mad and you do NOT want to do that.” Tanaka’s voice shook a little at the end. However, the stubborn hot heads seemed to take the words in through one ear and let it out of the other.

“Mad about what?” Daichi said as he walked in and Tanaka made a sound that could almost resemble a high school girl who had her skirt blown up by the wind.

“Are you guys fooling around again? I’m telling you we-” Daichi started to say as he folded his arms but he was cut off by Hinata.

Hinata held out his arm and pointed with the finger towards Kageyama.

“I challenge you. I’ll prove to you my designs are worthy. You and me; we will each design something based on isometric patterns. The fair judge of this will be the president of this company.”

When making this declaration, Hinata didn’t consider the fact that the precision that came with drawing lines and dealing with isometric shapes were not his forte. He was too worked up to consider anything at that point.

“Oiii!!!” Tanaka yelled as he flailed his arms. “Daichi-san was talking!!”

Kageyama wasn’t going to back out of such an obvious challenge, no matter how childish. He smirked, “Fair enough. But what is the penalty for losing?”

“You two, stop it,” Daichi said through gritted teeth, his voice slowly slipping out of its calm composure and steadily becoming more and more strained. “The building manager is going to pay us a visit and he is known for using every opportunity to pick on-”

“Loser does whatever the winner wants!” Hinata said, cutting Daichi off again. Suga put a shaky hand on Daichi’s shoulder in an attempt to calm him down but at this point, only the heaven could save them.

“Anything?” Kageyama taunted.

“Anything.” Hinata replied. He gulped. He was probably going to regret this later.

He shook himself out of his negative thoughts. ‘No, I’m not because I’m going to win and prove this jerk wrong.’ He thought fiercely to himself.

“YOU GUYS-” Daichi was just about to explode when yet again, he was interrupted. This time, it was by the person he was dreading.

“Are you lot causing trouble on my premises again?” A voice rang out with an incredibly cocky edge to it. All heads turned towards the new arrival.

Hinata had seen him. He had been talking to Takeda on the day of the try-outs. From what he had seen, Takeda was repeatedly bowing his head and mumbling apologies to this man that had walked in.

Hinata didn’t remember much about the man; except for the fact that he was clearly and obviously wearing a wig. One of those fake hair wigs that looked faker than full face theater masks.

Now looking at the stout man up close, he wasn’t a sight for sore eyes. He wore a crisp brown shirt and polished shoes that shone brighter than a diamond. He had an unpleasant look on his face; almost as though he was sneering, like he unravelled some great scandalous conspiracy. His face looked swollen and puffed up and the sweat was shining on his forehead. Something you wouldn’t expect being the president of a model agency, if Hinata could think in all honesty.

That was the least of his concerns right now. Kageyama was throwing him a very cocky smirk and it pissed him off.

The man smoothed his ‘hair’ as he turned to Daichi to speak, “Sawamura-kun, I hope you and your crew aren’t causing a ruckus in my building. I already told Takeda I would increase the taxes if another incident like three months ago repeats itself.”

“Ah, we are all just fine,” Daichi said with a shaky grin. “No trouble here. We were just showing the newbies around. We had two more join us today. Yamaguchi, Hinata this is our building manag-”

“Then what are we waiting around for?” Kageyama egged on. “Are you considering backing out?”

“Hah!” Hinata said with a grin of his own. “Me? Back out? Don’t voice your own thoughts in my name.”

“Seriously, you two-” Suga whispered aggressively but it was in vain.

“Oh there are people in the cafeteria,” a voice vaguely called out from the back. Footsteps were heard. It was Tanaka’s sister. “Shit! I forgot to put out the caution signs out front. Be careful out there guys, I just mopped everything so watch your step!”

The words were heard a second too late because the two, in that moment, decided to run head first out of the door. Kageyama slipped first and in an attempt to regain balance, he grabbed onto Hinata’s arm on reflex, causing the shorter boy to be yanked down rather harshly. With Hinata’s momentum now off, he flailed his free arm in one violent swing that hit the building manager’s head with a force so violent that it not only caused the chubby man to fall on his ass but also knock off his toupee.

The wig flew right off, revealing his shiny bald head, and landed perfectly atop Daichi’s head.

It was so overwhelmingly silent that a pin drop could be heard.

 

And then hell broke loose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blue and Jes are back with the next chapter.
> 
> And we're slowly making progress!  
> This is gonna be a bumpy ride of challenges and choices, I bet'cha ♥
> 
> -Jes & Blue


	5. John Cena On A Coffee Cup

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're sooooo so so so sorry for the long delay for this chapter! We're really trying our best to work on this story frequently but our both lives make it quite difficult to take time for it at the moment. It's a bit longer to make up for it but we'll try to deliver the next one faster :)
> 
> Anyway. We hope you enjoy this update with the start of the new Season of Haikyuu~. Damn, Shiratorizawa and Karasuno is going to be awesome! 
> 
> Feedback and comments are always welcome ^^
> 
> \- Jes and Blue

Everyone in the room was holding their breaths while staring at Daichi. The wig laid tilted on his head, and his eyes were wide with surprise.

After another ten seconds of awkward silence Tanaka snorted, let out a small giggle but was straight up silenced by the killer gaze that awoke in Daichi’s face. That silence lasted for about three second before the dam broke loose and Tanaka’s boisterous laughter echoed throughout the cafeteria.

Suga, in an attempt to shut the bald man up, punched him on his side but that did little to stop him. If anything, it made Tanaka laugh even louder. At this point, even Tsukishima joined in, covering his mouth but doing little to stifle his laughter. Yamaguchi’s face was red with amusement.

Hinata, still laying atop of Kageyama, his elbow drilling into his stomach looked frighteningly at the scenery in front of him. Even Suga was stunned by the events. If Suga found the situation hilarious, he did a good job at hiding it but the exasperated sigh that left his lips couldn’t have been stopped.

“Oi, dumbass get off.” Kageyama grunted. Hinata only seemed to realise then the position he and Kageyama were in and hastily picked himself off the floor.

Kageyama followed and dusted off his pants. He threw a sideways glance at the stout man who still lay unmoving on the floor, his eyes blown wide in shock. One of his hands vaguely felt his own, now shiny bald head.

“It was a wig?” Kageyama mumbled.

Hinata snickered quietly, “You didn’t realise? Everyone at the tryouts could tell.”

“I’ve seen worse.” He simply replies and shrugs with his shoulders, recalling a picture of light brown hair tainted by multiple hair colors and gels in his mind.

“You guys,” Tanaka started to say, barely able to maintain a straight face. “Y-You should shut up bahahaha!!”

“Tanaka, you shut up.” Suga hissed beside him.

“Sawamura-kun,” everyone immediately shut up as the building manager picked himself up off the ground and stared at Daichi with a very faraway look on his face. “I would like a moment alone with you. A word in private.”

“Yes sir.” Daichi replied solemnly, slowly reaching up to pull the wig off of the top of his head. The rest watched in silence as Daichi walked off, following the building manager.

xXx

“Well then,” Daichi said, breaking the silence. After the team leader returned alone, he had everyone sit themselves down in the chairs before he begun discussing anything. At this point, after what happened, nobody dared to object to anything he had to say.

“Fortunately, we are not in that much trouble,” he began. “He will not raise taxes however some form of penalty had to be given. That is fair. He expects the building to be in tip top shape tomorrow when he comes in again.”

“Phew!” Tanaka exhaled loudly. “That’s a relief!” He leaned back in his chair and was about to put his leg up on the table but Suga smacked him on his thigh and he reconsidered.

But Daichi wasn’t finished yet. He leaned forward and looked seriously in everyone’s face. “And, that was his prior condition, we saw nothing. Absolutely nothing. At all. Do we all understand this?”

Tanaka, Hinata and Kageyama gulped audibly and nodded vigorously. Yamaguchi and Suga looked sheepish about the whole thing and Tsukishima had a smile playing vaguely on his lips.

“Now then,” Daichi said, his tone a lot lighter than his previous. “We’re all here to work together and COOPERATE.” He shot a look at Kageyama and Hinata.

“I was telling myself and Suga too,” he gestured to Suga. “That maybe we got off on the wrong foot. But no, you guys are . . . really something. “

“Uh oh.” Hinata heard Tanaka say under his breath.

“Karasuno, as you know and I bet you hear it all the time, once was at the top of its game. The current Karasuno is just another small agency in Miyagi now but it won’t be that way for long. Every member of the agency feels strongly for this goal and hopes to achieve it together. That is why I need everyone to put in their all and work together as a team.” Daichi reached into his back pocket and pulled out two folded pieces of paper. He unfolded them and held one in each hand, analysing the two.

“Kageyama-kun and Hinata-kun,” said Daichi. The usage of the suffix only made an unpleasant shiver run down the spine of the two. “You two are very . . . exuberant, I must say. We’ve never had anyone like you two before.”

“T-Thank you.” The two replied cautiously. The look on Daichi’s face was like the calm before the storm. He clicked with his tongue before he stared at them directly.

“However,” he continued. “No matter how enthusiastic and dedicated you may be,” he looked at Hinata. “Or even if you are a prodigy whose skills is of a higher caliber than most,” he faced Kageyama.

He slammed the two papers, which were now shown to be copies of their resumes, on the table in front of them, “No matter how talented or how willing you may be, if you’re not a team player, then we don’t need you.”

Daichi stood up and walked out of the cafeteria without even glancing back once.

A few seconds passed before Hinata registered what had happened. Kageyama was a second quicker to react, running out of the door (this time successfully maneuvering around the wet floor).

“DAICHI-SAAAAAANNN!!” The two yelled in unison as they dashed, following Daichi. The man at the reception desk from before vaguely yell “NO RUNNING IN MY HALLWAYS!”

Daichi seemed to have expected the two to chase after him. He stared at the two impassively as they struggled to catch their breath; Hinata with one hand on his chest and the other clutching his resume tightly while Kageyama was bent over with his hands on his knees, also clutching his resume.

“Give us another chance,” Hinata began blubbering. “I’ll do whatever it takes to earn my place here!”

“Move over!” Kageyama exclaimed as he shoved Hinata out of the way. “I will prove my worth to the agency. I’ll do anything you ask me, even get along with this airhead right here.”

“Oi!” Hinata protested.

Daichi’s stern looking face was merciless but he throw a short gaze towards Kageyama, carefully but openly judging him, “Are you sure about that?”

Kageyama was frozen on the spot. Of course he didn’t want to work with that obnoxious knucklehead! Hinata took his silence as a chance to speak again.

“I’ll do it! I’ll . . . ugh I’ll try to work with Kageyama no matter how constipated he is!”

“Watch your mouth, dumbass.” Kageyama warned.

They start bickering again and Daichi’s expression grew darker with every word. “LISTEN! I’ll ignore you’re arguing and pretend I didn’t hear it, for now! Kageyama, do you really think you can get along with him, with others in this agency?”

Kageyama was ready to tell a lie on how he definitely will get along with everyone when Daichi’s eyes were drilling into his soul. They were intense, deep and he felt like he’s been opposed to a x-ray. “I-If I could I’d throw Hinata out by myself and make sure he leaves the country and never come back.”, he replied instead and chewed on his bottom lip.

A long silence followed before he spoke up again. “At least you’re honest.” Daichi sighed and chuckled. “I’ll admit I didn’t think you’d be this truthful, I appreciate that. Alright then, I accept your proposal. But you will have to prove yourselves. Not just your individual skills, but how you work as a team as well. Let’s go back to the cafeteria, shall we? I need Yamaguchi and Tsukishima to be there too.”

The two, this time quietly, followed Daichi back into the cafeteria. Suga smiled sympathetically at the two and gestured them over to sit back down at the table. Tsukishima raised an eyebrow and gave a know-it-all grin when they reached the table. He looked like a sarcastic response already was on the tip of his tongue when they heard a loud sounds, followed by the blonde haired boy to crunch up his face and sending a glare towards Tanaka.

It wasn’t said out loud but Hinata could feel that he kicked Tsukishima under the table to prevent him from saying something crucial and that, at least, made him feel a bit satisfaction for his attitude earlier.

“After we all calmed down again, I will now declare the conditions I came up with to deal with irregularities which occurred in our agency recently.”, Daichi didn’t mention anything specific but it was clear to see that he meant Kageyama and Hinata. Their face flushed red in embarrassment.

“A task.” said Daichi. He looked at Suga and nodded to him. Hinata hadn’t noticed before but he did now; four yellow coloured papers he held in his hand. They were flyers. Suga proceeded to hand them out to him, Kageyama, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi.

“Task . . .?” Yamaguchi mumbled vaguely, eyeing the brochure.

Daichi nodded, “A task to prove yourselves and your worth to Karasuno.”

Hinata glanced down at his own copy of the flyer. It was a simple one, nothing fancy or exuberant. On the piece of paper was a monochrome picture of an old building, the kind that looked like the student dorms at boarding schools. In front of the building were a group of small children, around the age of his younger sister, smiling and posing for the camera.

“Tokonami Children’s Shelter?” Hinata read aloud.

“That’s right,” said Daichi. “The family of a childhood friend of mine started that shelter for orphans and for childrens from abusive homes. It’s a little on the outskirts of town. My friend has taken over the shelter after his folks retired and now he takes care of the children, along with a couple of his friends.” Daichi smiled, his eyes nostalgic.

“‘We, the Tokonami family, welcome one and all for our annual play,’” Kageyama read. “‘This year we will be performing in two parts: Part I _The_ _Wizard of Oz_ and Part II _The Dracula Kidds or, The House on Blood Pudding Lane_.’”

“Oh so you can read fluently at least.” Tsukishima taunted. Hinata couldn’t help the snort that escaped him.

Before, Kageyama could snap back at him or make an attempt to crush Hinata’s skull, Suga intercepted quickly, “Anyway, read the note below that.”

Hinata turned back to the flyer and read the smaller print just above the venue, date and time and below the announcement written in bold.

_‘’As always, Karasuno Agency will be sponsoring our costumes. This year, we will also be holding a ‘Best Costume’ competition so please support us by voting for your favourite!’_

“A costume competition?” Hinata piped up. “That’s our task.”

“That’s right!” Tanaka said, who had oddly been silent till now. “Daichi-san and his friend, Ikejiri-san go way back. We’ve done this for a few years now. We manage the costumes of the children there as an act of charity and because the kids love me. I’m the greatest senpai after-”

“Tanaka.” Suga interrupted.

Tanaka cleared his throat, “Anyway, since we have some rookies joining us this year, Daichi-san organised a costume competition to be held so the audience can decide which ones they liked best. That’s also the reason they split the play into two parts this year.”

“You will be split into teams of two and you have to work together to design the costumes for these kids,” said Daichi. “You have two weeks of preparation and you are allowed to ask for assistance from our tailor and designers her but the design you come up with has to be a combination of two people’s individual ideas put together into one.”

“You’ll meet them soon enough,” Suga said with a small laugh. “They’re both hard to miss . . . in their own unique ways.”

“You said we would be split into teams of two so . . . “ Yamaguchi started to say.

“Ah yes,” Daichi said with a smile and honestly, it wasn’t so pleasant. “Hinata felt a shiver run down his back. “Originally, Suga and I thought we could randomly shuffle you into pairs by picking out numbers from a hat or something. Maybe even draw straws. However, I see now that the people that need to be placed together are clearly obvious.”

Hinata rocked back and forth impatiently in his chair. He really hoped he would get paired with Yamaguchi because he wasn’t too keen on working with Tsukishima. One thing for sure, he knew, he would not get placed with Kageyama. It was pretty clear how they were totally NOT hitting it off together.

“Yamaguchi, Tsukishima, you two will be a team and you will take care of the costumes in the first half of the play,” Daichi said to the two. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi exchanged looks before Yamaguchi beamed up at him with a “Please take care of me!” Tsukishima huffed out a sigh. If anything, he looked relieved he didn’t get partnered with the other two.

Tsukishima turned his head and his eyes met Hinata’s. He glanced briefly at Kageyama before his lips turned up in that sarcastic grin which Hinata had come to loathe more than anything in the short time period he’d gotten to know him.

‘No,’ Hinata thought frantically. ‘Oh no no no no hell no-’

“Kageyama, Hinata, you two will be a team and take care of the second part.”

All was silent for about five solid seconds before both Hinata and Kageyama erupted into shouts of protest, “WHAAAAAAAAAAT???!!!!”

“You kids need to shut up, I can hear you all the way here!” they heard a voice call out from the other room; probably the man from the reception desk.

“Sawamura-san,” Kageyama said through gritted teeth. “There is no way in heaven, hell or earth I can work with this . . . this . . . him!”

“Oi!” Hinata complained. “You think I want to work with a pain in the ass like you?! Please! Can’t I work with Yamaguchi? Kageyama can go be a pain in the ass together with Tsukishima!”

“Fuck off,” Kageyama growled. “You go team up with Tsukishima, you’re both annoying and you both get on my nerves!”

“Well aren’t I popular.” Yamaguchi mumbled sarcastically.

“Alright, both of you ENOUGH!” Surprisingly, this time it was Suga who silenced them. Caught by surprise from the loud gesture from the gentle man, the two immediately shut up.

Even Daichi seemed a tad bit taken aback. He cleared his throat to regain composure before he spoke, “There won’t be any change. The whole purpose of this task is to enhance team work. You two are clearly lacking in that area when it comes to each other. Tsukishima too, you need to stop provoking your fellow colleagues.” Daichi raised an eyebrow at the said blonde, who merely turned away and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

“Ahh, you all are still here,” Takeda popped his head into the room. His jacket was off, along with his tie. “It’s getting quite late, you know. You all should head on home.”

Daichi checked his watch, “Oh right. We got caught up in . . . a lot of things.”

“I passed our Building Manager a while ago.” Takeda said grimly.

“Sorry.” Kageyama and Hinata mumbled awkwardly as they bowed to Takeda.

All four of them went up on the first floor in silent. It’s not like they didn’t had anything to say, oh no, Hinata could go on on how pretentious Kageyama is for the rest of the day but Daichi made it clear that he wouldn’t tolerate any other disturbance for the rest of the day. And so he clenched his teeth as they walked up the wooden stairs.

Hinata saw that the black haired boy entered the room across from him and Yamaguchi. The one which was kept neat and organised when he looked into it with Suga before. It fits him. He seemed as reserved as his room ought it to be.

They packed their stuff in silence until Yamaguchi broke it with a question. His voice was soft and cracked in the beginning as if he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to say anything in such a tense moment. “Which play do you think we will get, Tsukki? I hope it’s Wizard of Oz, it’s the favourite from my little brother.”

“Well, it’s for certain that the team with the other play is at disadvantage. I never heard of it before and the two airheads doesn’t know anything except their own work. So that’s out of question.”

Hinata growled silently, Daichi’s words echoing in the back of his mind. He definitely couldn’t stand this tall bag of salt who seemed to think so highly of himself.

‘Maybe the height adds to his ego.’ Hinata thought bitterly.

As they went out on the hallway again they found Kageyama on top of the stairs and an awkward silence stretched out over the situation as if everyone was waiting for some sort of cue to start moving again. This didn’t take long to come as they heard someone whistling a familiar tune from the door on their right.

Tanaka came up next to them, smacking both of their backs hard as he made his way past the two unequal duos. “Time to hit the sheets. You two caused a big ruckus for your first day here, huh? You’re both alright, I guess. We’ll have a good time with together.” He went out of the door with a hand raised as goodbye, popping a bubble gum in his mouth.

 xXx 

“Tanaka-san is certainly something. Don’t you think, Tsukki?”, Yamaguchi asked the now slightly startled boy.

“He’s short tempered. And that’s exhausting. And these two dickheads aren’t certainly better.” His finger pointed behind him where Kageyama and Hinata walked, fists stuffed into their jackets, pouting by the fact of having a similar way home and necessary spending even more time together. “Especially the king is living up to his title.”

Kageyama gave out a groan and snapped at him. “Oi! Don’t call me that!”

“Huh? So is it true? The rumor that he loses it when he’s called _the king_. Personally, I think it suits you. This unwavering feeling of confidence you’re radiating is sure annoying as hell.” The expression of Tsukishima was full of spite and he definitely enjoyed the reaction he got. He took some steps forward until he stood right in front of Kageyama. “I’ve heard about all your habits and doings while you were still in Kitagawa Daiichi. That were some nice outburst you had. No wonder they were fed up with you at some point. It’s admiring that they kept up with you for so long already. If it were me, I’d have thrown you out long before.” A small snicker escaped his lips.

Hinata could feel the tension building up within Kageyama and at some point he could swear he saw his,at least for the moment, team partner trembling. He grabbed the collar of Tsukishima, his jaw tightly clenched together. They went into a staring contest, none of them willing to look away first until Kageyama stormed off.

Tsukishima looked after him, a sly grin on his face. “That’s so unlike how the king used to be. Why do you not show me what the king is capable off? You were so noisy back then.”

The three of them stood silent for a moment, awaiting a reaction of Kageyama who’s back faced them some steps away. Hinata caught himself holding his breath as he begged him to snap back like he did so with him the whole day. It was stupid to think but he didn’t want Tsukishima to have the last word. Against his expectations nothing happened and he continue walking without looking back.

Hinata turned around, a spark of anger in his eyes. “Hey! Don’t forget about me when you’re so focused on him! We’ll win the competition and prove ourselves worthy Karasuno!”, he threw Yamaguchi a short gaze who remained quiet throughout the whole scene and run away to catch up on the black haired boy.

xXx

“Kageyama! Wait! What was that? You could definitely snap back to him!”

He didn’t even wait for Hinata tried to catch his breath. “Does it matter for you? I’ve got my own reasons.”

“But why are you so obsessed with the king? Isn’t it an honor to be called like that?” Hinata didn’t miss the pain that washed over his face for a split second. “If people would call me something like all-mighty-space-lord, I’d feel proud of it.” That earned him at least a snort from the taller one.

“Listen. I just don’t like it. You don’t have to know why, simply don’t call me that.”

“Oh. Alright, I can get behind that. So do you have a plan for tomorrow already?”

“We first need to know which play we get. But I already got some ideas. Just tag along and I’ll make us win.”

Before Hinata could respond, the bus arrived and Kageyama got on without a second glance in his direction. Hinata watched in disbelief as Kageyama found himself a seat and pull out his phone out of his pocket just as the bus drove away.

“And you think I’ll say ‘Splendid idea! I’ll leave it to you, Kageyama-kun’ and just sit back?!” Hinata yelled after the bus. A couple who was walking a dog threw an odd glance in his direction.

Hinata couldn’t believe the nerve of the guy. Here he was, finally making his dreams come true, striving towards greater heights and a tall, humanoid wall of stubbornness appears in his path. How on earth was he going to get along with Kageyama and tackle the task at hand? Scratch that, how was he going to manage the rest of his days within the agency?

Hinata let out an agitated whine before storming off towards the direction of his home.

 

* * *

 

When Daichi found them in their respective work areas the next day, Hinata and Kageyama were clearly out of breath and wheezing on the floor.

“I . . . totally . . . defeated . . . you.” Kageyama managed to say in between gasping for air.

“Haaaah . . . “ Hinata exhaled. “Your legs are . . . longer so . . . that doesn’t  . . . that’s cheating!”

“Quite a slovenly bunch, aren’t they?” Tsukishima drawled out, walking in holding a cup of coffee. Yamaguchi followed after shortly and exhaled exasperatedly. He offered Daichi, Hinata and Kageyama cups of coffee which they thanked him for.

Yamaguchi waved his hand in a dismissive manner, “No, no. Thank Saeko-san if you must. She’s the one who’s giving us free coffee. I have to hand some others out as well” Yamaguchi emphasised as he held up the tray in his hand.

Daichi chuckled, “We owe that woman a great deal for her support.”

Hinata ended up burning his tongue since he hastily sipped his coffee. Kageyama snickered and called him a ‘dumbass’ before blowing his own coffee. However, it was still too hot so he hissed in pain as the hot liquid touched the skin of his lips. Hinata laughing openly at him and Daichi felt another childish bicker coming on so he quickly intervened.

“Well since you’re all energised and ready to go,” Daichi paused as he took a sip of his coffee. “How about I introduce you to our two main pillars?”

“Pillars?” Hinata beamed, already over his tongue-burning frenzy and now staring at Daichi with stars in his eyes.

“Our tailor is with Suga right now and they’re both not in. They have some errands to run however, they’ll be back later. Meanwhile, the Guardian Deity of Karasuno has joined us today so you’ll have him taking care of your backs too.”

“Guardian Deity?! That sounds so cool!” said Hinata.

“Well, that’s a fitting name for him really,” said Daichi. “He’s one of our best designers and you can always count on him to have your back. Oh, make sure you call him ‘senpai’, Hinata. He’ll swoon like an idiot, just like Tanaka.”

“Okay . . .?” Hinata replied slowly

“Nishinoya must be around here somewhere.” Daichi took a step back and glanced along the hallways.

On cue, a very loud voice thundered and echoed across the walls, “RYUUUUUUU!!!!!”

Daichi groaned, “Not again.”

They then heard Tanaka’s boisterous laughter, from a distance at first and eventually getting louder as he got closer. The hurried stomp of his feet indicated he was running from something, or rather, someone.

Tanaka was laughing and running like the free spirit he was until he saw Daichi. He stopped dead in his tracks and sheepishly scratched the back of his bald head.

“Tanaka-senpai, good morning!” Hinata greeted happily.

“Ah, morning Hinata!” Tanaka said with a grin, as if he had only noticed the shorter boy’s presence when he spoke up.

“Tanaka-san, your coffee.” Yamaguchi said as he handed Tanaka his drink. Whether if the liquid had cooled down or if Tanaka did not feel any sensations of pain they would never know because as soon as Tanaka got the cup from Yamaguchi, he downed the coffee as though he was taking a shot.

“Um, who was that ear-” Kageyama started to say but a loud voice, the one from before, cut him off.

“RYUU YOU BASTARD, THERE YOU ARE!” the voice bellowed. Tanaka flinched visibly and he pressed his lips tightly together to control his laughter once more. As the footsteps got closer, Tanaka literally squealed and hid behind Daichi.

Hinata expected a tall, delinquent looking guy with a piercing or two with perhaps a ridiculous hair-dye job when he heard the owner of the voice making his way towards them but what he did. He imagined Tanaka to have a couple of scary looking friends with mohawks and a killer gaze to hang around in his free time but he was stunned silenced when he saw who was the origin of Tanaka’s giggling fear.

He wasn’t entirely wrong about the dye job because the person before them had a small tuft of dyed blonde hair. The rest of his hair was ruffled and seemed to be defying gravity, spiked up and jet black in colour. He wore a simple, bright pink shirt with _John Cena_ written in explosive letter above his _‘U Can’t See Me’_  logo. On his shoulder was something scribbled in sharpie with an arrow pointing at the logo on the front of his shirt as he glared at Tanaka. He could identify “Because you are short” during the movements of him.

But that wasn’t the most remarkable thing to Hinata.

It’s not as if Hinata hadn’t see people shorter than him before but those were almost limited to middle schoolers and younger children. But the person before him obvious, even by a mere few centimetres, was shorter than him.

Although his stature was small, Hinata had a feeling in his gut that this person was so much more. This person had something explosive within, a fire that burnt wildly.

Hinata should have thought twice before he walked up and stood face to face with the new arrival.

Big brown eyes stared back at Hinata, “Huh? Who’re you?”

“Oh my god!!” Hinata gushed and beamed up. And before he could stop himself, he also blurted out, “You’re shorter than me!”

Tanaka pretty much lost it at this point and even Daichi lost his composure and chuckled.

“HAH! What’d you say? You picking a fight huh?!” The smaller man said as he jabbed his finger onto Hinata’s chest.

Daichi managed to control his chuckles and walked up behind Hinata, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Nishinoya, it’s alright. You weren’t around yesterday so you missed the introduction but that’s Hinata Shouyou. One of the new rookies we took in.”

The new person crossed his arms in front of his chest and eyed Hinata suspiciously from the side of his eyes. This only lasted a second and Hinata found himself in a headlock, getting his hair ruffled by him. “Sorry that I missed ya big introduction. I had some stuff to take care of.”

“I’m sorry if I sounded rude right now.” Hinata said sincerely as he bowed his head, even though he was already bent over into a headlock and he was still secretly beaming on the inside.

“Hmm,” Nishinoya said, as if he was making some serious internal decision. He slowly let go of the orange haired boy. “Apology accepted. The name’s Nishinoya Yuu! Nice to meet ya!”

“Nishinoya Yuu?” Kageyama said, his voice indicating the sudden realisation of something dawning upon him. He blinked slowly before he recalled something in the back of his mind. “Nishinoya Yuu from Chidoriyama Jr High? The Nishinoya Yuu who got awarded as best rookie designer of his school year?” Kageyama’s jaw hung open and an obviously surprised expression plastered his face.

Nishinoya answered nonchalantly. “Yeah. That’s the art school I went to. The award isn’t that big of a deal.”

Tsukishima and Yamaguchi quietly introduced themselves with a bow of their heads. It was only the beginning of the day and the energy had already seeped into the atmosphere at Karasuno.

“So I’ll be supervising and looking over these rookies, am I right, Dai-san?” Noya declared, placing his hands on his hips. Fortunately, he didn’t hear the snarky laugh on Tanaka and Tsukishima’s end when he said he’d be ‘looking over’ them. There had been enough short jokes for one day.

“You’ll have Asahi to help you out too and Tanaka will be there to lend an extra hand,” said Daichi. “Of course you could always report to me or Suga for any difficulty you face.”

Glancing at his wrist watch, Daichi’s eyes widened and he quickly excused himself and said he had some matters he had to take care of.

“Fufufu, you underestimate me, Dai-san,” Nishinoya said with a grin. He placed his hands on his hips as he spoke to the rookies. “Alright, you newbies, let’s get this party started shall we? Under specific orders from Daichi, you all will be under my wing. Oh, but don’t worry. You’re in great hands so you have nothing to fear.” For emphasis, he raised one of his hands and struck a thumbs-up pose.

The only one who swooned was Hinata, who was already bouncing on the balls of his feet, “We will be in your care so please take care of us . . .” Hinata paused for a moment, recalling what Daichi had told him. “Nishinoya-senpai!”

For the record, the reaction that followed on Nishinoya’s part was nothing short of dramatic; hand over heart, falling to his knees as though he had been shot in the chest. Then, after few seconds, he rose steadily to his feet and placed a hand on Hinata’s shoulder.

“Kid, we’re going to work hard,” he started to say. “And after we are done . . . I’m going to treat you to ice popsicles! Because I am your senpai!”

“Ossu!!” Hinata exclaimed, excitedly.

“It’s November and you do realise it’s freezing outside right?” Tsukishima deadpanned.

“Shut up, you tall bag of salt!”


	6. Jesus, Take the Needle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> YESSSS we are alive. Things have been busy. But now I (Blue) am on break and the Blue/Jes writing duo are back in action!  
> So. Be prepared! As usual, we're trying our best and hope you all enjoy this chapter.
> 
> -Jes and Blue

Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, Kageyama and Hinata were all gathered around one of Suga’s hats, filled with paper snippets. 9 of them had _The Wizard of Oz_ written on it and only one had _The Dracula Kidds or, The House on Blood Pudding Lane_ on it. Reason for that was that simple no one wanted to design clothes for something they never heard of. The time they had left was already tight. They all settled that each team would draw simultaneously and the one who got it in the end had to do it. The air was tense and they all stared at Tanaka and Nishinoya standing as judge and generous provider of the paper snippets at the end of the table.

“Now,” Tanaka said, pushing it towards the other end of the table. “Who’s starting?”

Kageyama send a glare towards Tsukishima as they both stand up. Grabbing one each, the reactions couldn’t be any more different. Kageyama took a fast glimpse and slammed the small paper down on the table, yelling “Ha! Wizard of Oz.” while Tsukishima just silently stood there, showing his paper before returning to their places. 7 free tickets remain in the head.

It was Hinata’s turn and as he reached in the head he had his eyes shut, slowly peaking at the letters written on it. _The Wizard of Oz_. Yamaguchi also sighed in relief next to him as his paper showed the same result. They both nodded at each other before it was the others turn once again. 5 free tickets remain.

“Come on Kageyama! Do something useful for once.” Hinata cheered from the sideline.  
Kageyama snapped back at him. “Oi! Do you want that I draw the wrong one?! Don’t distract me, dumbass!”

He lungs out and dived to the bottom of the hat, grasping at the next best paper he could find. Something in his head told him to switch it right away but he already had it in front of his face. With a pale face, he recognized that the snippet was more filled with letters than those before and an uncomfortable feeling spread inside of him. Tsukishima already showed his choice, again _The Wizard of Oz_ , and with a sly grin he looks over to the black haired boy in anticipation.

“Did the king had an unlucky hand? I thought you were so skilled with those.” he threw in on a side note.

Kageyama snorted and unfolded it, just to reveal, yes indeed, _The Dracula Kidds or, The House on Blood Pudding Lane_. In a dramatic motion he grasps in his hair and sunk to the floor in an defeated pose.

“Kageyama! Don’t tell me you really got us the other play!” Hinata seemed as speechless as his team partner. “Screw you, Tsukishima!”  
“Why is that my fault?” Tsukishima deadpanned.

Tanaka’s laughter quieted them and he clapped in his hand. “So, so. Behave! Who knows what Daichi will say when he comes in. It’s decide then. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi will design costumes for  
The Wizard of Oz and Hinata and Kageyama will do the same for The Nude Wood-Thing Lane.”

“It’s Blood Pudding Lane. Let’s keep this PG, Tanaka.” a soft voice interrupted from the door.

“Oh, that makes more sense actua- Suga-san! You’re here already!” Tanaka snapped around and put his hand to his face as if he saluted. “We were just joking around! Right, Noya?”

Nishinoya shook his head slowly. “I’m ashamed Ryuu. Trying to dirt our new rookie designer.”

“YUUU?!”

Suga only sighed; it wasn’t as though he wasn’t used to Tanaka and Noya’s shenanigans. He turned to look at the rookies, who were now more or less clear about what they were going to work on,

“Well, it seems like everyone is all set and ready to go?”

“Um, Suga-san,” Hinata said as he raised his hand as though he were a kid asking a question in class. “What is Nude- ah! I mean this Blood Pudding thing about? I don’t think I’ve heard of it before.”

“That’s cause you’re an airhead.” Kageyama mumbled, unhelpfully.

“Shut up, it’s not like you know about it any better than I do!” Hinata grumbled.

Suga placed his hand on his chin, “Hmm. That is an odd choice for a play, really. Normally, they’d pick a classic tale out of a fairy tale book. Cinderella or Snow White or something, you know?”

“Why don’t you ask Asahi-san?!” Noya beamed as he walked over next to Suga. “That big oaf knows a lot of shit no one really cares about.”

“Wow, you just single-handedly gave the newbies an impression that Asahi is a creepy underground guy who knows weird stuff.” Tanaka said with a laugh. He ducked just in time as Nishinoya chucked the nearest roll of measuring tape at him.

“Well, I’m not much of a story reader okay?” Nishinoya protested. “I know Wizard of Oz ‘cause it was my own school play in elementary school!”

“Ooooh! So cool! Which role did you play, Noya-san?!” Hinata gushed.

“Dororthy!” He declared, proudly.

“Bwahahaha you played the girl?!” Tanaka laughed.

“Shut up Ryuu! Yeah, I was Dorothy. I was actually a tree but the girl who was supposed to play Dorothy called in sick and I was the only one who fit into the costume. Yes, I had to play the girl but I was a hero that day and I saved the show!” As he said his, Nishinoya climbed up onto the nearest chair and stood with his chest out, his coat draped over his shoulders like a cape and his eyes glinting in the light.

“Noya, get down from there will you?” Suga said, already exasperated.

The energetic boy hurried down and stood next to Hinata. “So, where is Asahi? He can’t hide forever from the new rookies!”

“Oh, he’s upstairs. He’s preparing his textiles right now. But-” Suga raised one finger in the air and throw a glare at them, “before you run out like there’s a cheetah on your heels, remember what Daichi said. No unthought actions such as racing or competitions that go further than the surface of a table.”

All the others, including Tanaka and Nishinoya nodded with their head. No one wanted to see an angry Daichi.

“Yamaguchi, should we go and start with our assignment? My older brother had to play it once so I know the roles.”, Tsukishima asked halfway out of the door, earning a soft ‘Sure Tsukki’ from his friend.

Tanaka and Noya were the second one to part ways. “Alright guys. Good luck with the Mud Riding Lane.”

“Where are you going, Noya-san?”

They both froze and stared dreamily in the air. “Today, Kiyoko-san will go and buy supplies!”, they answered in unison. Like two prayer statues they stood in the middle of the room before storming off with a loud “KIYOKO-SAAAN” and invisible hearts pouring out over their heads.

Suga watched them with a composed look. “Should I introduce you to our tailor? Looks like Yamaguchi and Tsukishima are good on their own.”

 xXx 

The tailor’s room was plastered with mannequins and different textiles. Most of them neatly folded on desks or arranged on the wall but some fabrics - preferable vivid, bright colors and unfinished pattern spread out over and under the sewing machines. It was cramped but it seemed empty on first sight.

“Asahi? Are you here? I want you to meet our new rookies to help with the project.”, Suga shouted from the entrance.

There was a silence followed by a low whimper from one of the corners. Some muffled words made their way through a bunch of fallen over textile rolls.

Hinata eyed the giant pile suspiciously due the horror movie he watched last night. “Suga-senpai? I think someone is buried in the back.”

“What did beardie did this time…”, he went over and pulled one roll off of the top. “What happened Asahi?”

“Suga! You’re a gift from heaven! Noya asked me to get some rolls from the top shelf but he stormed off with one of his new ideas and knocked over the ladder! Could you help me out?”

“Asahi, you are the tallest here in Karasuno,” Suga placed his hands on his hips, unimpressed. “Well, since before Tsukishima joined us but still. You could have just jumped down and you’d have landed perfectly. How did you end up on your ass, you big baby? Get up!”

Suga extended a hand to help out the man and as he stood, Hinata let out a tiny “eep” sound. The man, Asahi, was indeed very tall; not as tall as Tsukishima, who was clearly a walking lamp post, but close. His long brown hair was tied in a bun but due to his fall, some stray locks were now out of place. He also had a bit of a beard on his chin; overall, the man looked older and very mature. He wore a simple cream coloured sweater and jeans, which completed the “casual adult” image he had.

However, his behaviour and seeming personality contradicted the way he looked. This, Hinata could tell, as he watched the man awkwardly shift his gaze from Suga to him and Kageyama to the mannequins behind them, twiddling with his thumbs. In comparison to Nishinoya, Hinata thought, he was the complete opposite.

“Ah, right,” said Suga. “Asahi, these are two of our rookies; Hinata and Kageyama.” Suga gestured to the two and they offered a curt bow of greeting.

“O-Oh, hello,” Asahi said with a slightly nervous but warm smile. “I’m Karasuno’s tailor, Azumane Asahi. Nice to meet you. I’m sorry you had to see me and my office in such a mess.”

Suga laughed, “Oh please! You’re a mess every time we come by around here and you have been for the years you’ve worked with us here! You know what, one time Asahi was the only one who didn’t know that we were going to have some issues with the lights and we had to stay back working late. While all of us were taking a break during the outage in the cafeteria, drinking tea in the candlelight, we heard Asahi recite the entire bible from upstairs.”

“Suga,” Asahi whined. “What kind of impression are you trying make about me in front of my juniors? And you guys were so mean, you didn’t even come up to help me!”

“It was funny, that’s why,” Suga stated with a chuckle. “It was the first time in a long time that I saw Daichi wheezing and even Shimizu losing her composure.”  
Asahi wielded his hands, looking extremely flustered by Suga’s words. Hinata on the other hand came up and pointing at himself proudly. “Don’t worry, Asahi-san! I’m also scared of ghosts!”

“You say that as if it’s something good.”

“Shut up, Idiot-yama!”

“Don’t add any weird words to my name, Dumbass-Hinata!”

“Bakageyama!”

“Boke, Hinata-boke!”

The tall tailor was clearly overwhelmed with the argument of those two growling at each other. He pled a look towards Suga who just stood there, hands on his face as if that happens regularly. He tried to whisper softly to him. “Suga. Do something, please.”

Suga let out an exasperated sigh for the umpteenth time since meeting the two younger boys. He grabbed both of them by the collars of their shirts, “Okay, okay! Time to get to work. Do you thing, Asahi.”

Suga literally hauled the two in Asahi’s direction, causing the older man to step back with a startled noise escaping his lips. Then, he left with a spring in his step, closing the door loudly behind him.

Silence enveloped the room.

Asahi awkwardly shifted, “So . . . I hear you’re designing costumes for individual plays. Uh, what have you got?”

 xXx 

And so the duo spent the rest of their day, cooped up in Asahi’s messy office going over a couple of ideas both boys had come up.

“Dumbass, your designs are too flamboyant!” Kageyama barked.

“No it is not! Do you even know what that word means?”

“Well . . . do you?!”

“Ugh!”

Asahi was beyond overwhelmed at this point, “C-Calm down you two.”

  
Maybe they were simply tired. Maybe they weren’t in the mood. Maybe they realised that the argument at this point was pointless because they listened to the older man and calmed themselves down.

From Asahi’s perspective, it felt like a huge achievement for him. He stared at the two who were glaring daggers at each other from the corner of their eyes.

Asahi smiled fondly remembering something not exactly the same but of a familiar feeling. He gently placed his notebook down on the table and cleared his throat. He drew the attention of the two boys to him.

“You know,” he started. “When Noya and I met and were put to work for the first time, we had our fair share of issues too.”

“Asahi-san, you’re close with Noya-san?” Hinata asked.

Asahi nodded, “We work quite well together despite our differences in . . . well, everything. Initially, though, I was more timid and I was not a risk taker. I prefered to sew precisely and with everything aligned and in order. Working with Noya, I had to abandon some of my own principles because of his crazy designs which always turn out magnificent in the end. He was stubborn and persistent and I was always worried about detail. In the end, we realised that we made up for what we lacked and we were a pretty mean team.”

Asahi smiled at them. He looked the most mature and confident in that moment since the two met him, “What I’m saying is, don’t pick on each other for where you disagree. Work your way around it and try to work as one.”

He turned to Hinata, “Hinata, your designs are bold. Very bold and some of them I can’t even think it up if I tried. From what I have personally seen, your creativity and exuberance is second to Noya’s. But remember, there are always limits; we must work to overcome them but it mustn't be rushed. I also has to be realistic. There are many ways to tackle an issue.”

He then turned to Kageyama, “If I remember correctly, and if you are ‘that’ Kageyama, then you have been commended for your skill and your precision. But what I’ve learned is that sometimes it is okay to colour outside the lines and step out of your comfort zone every once in a while. Hinata is the perfect person to help you out there, don’t you think?”

The silence from the two made Asahi queasy again, “Ah! I don’t mean to sound patronising! Umm . . .” He scratched his chin and looked around. “But, I think, if you two would end up overcoming those issues of yours, I could picture you two as good team.”

Startled by their intense look he flustered picked up his things. “It’s late already. I dare to say, let’s call it a day you two. I have to catch my ride home.”

Hinata and Kageyama thanked Asahi for his help on their costumes but remained silent about his advice from earlier. As they made their way through the front door, the remaining building was covered in darkness and only the guard on the reception gave them a tired gaze.

Both remained quiet for their path together, the awkwardness cuttable with a sword until Hinata let out a big sigh.

Hinata decided if Kageyama was going to be a prick, he was just going to have to be the bigger man.

“Oi, Bakageyama!” Hinata called out.

“Hah?!” Kageyama yelled angrily as he turned to glare at the short ginger.

‘Do it, Shouyou,’ Hinata thought to himself. ‘Do it for a greater good. Do it for your dream.’

He looked into the taller one's face and with only slight hesitation stuck his hand out for a handshake. Kageyama stared at it for five seconds before blatantly asking, “What do you want?”

“A handshake, you idiot!” Hinata exclaimed. Kageyama made a face and he could relate to it. Hinata continued to talk. “Look, I don’t want to do this either but to make this work, we gotta work together. So what do you say? Truce?” He nervously chewed on his lips as he waited for a response.

Kageyama took longer than expected and honestly, it made Hinata feel stupid standing there with a slight shiver due to the cold, sticking his hand out. Just as he was about to withdraw and call Kageyama a string of colourful names, his handshake was returned. Rather tightly and not in a very friendly way but with a warm hand and returned no less.

Without another word, Kageyama walked off on his own way.

Hinata watched him go, baffled. ‘The nerve of that guy!’

He stared for five more seconds until he realised something and stumbled after him to catch up to the taller man, “Hey Kageyama!! Give me your phone number!”

And somewhere in the north, the first snow starts falling, unnoticed by those in Karasuno.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We hope you like it! Stay tuned for a hell lot moree! :)
> 
> \- Jes and Blue


	7. Eletric Blue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *cough* Did...did we already say that we're sorry for all those breaks between chapters? Because we really are.  
> But we can't help what we can't change. Our time zones and daily schedules are too uncompatible to work out smoothly but we got a plan. Hope it works for everyone! And.
> 
> Some quality developement for you (hopefully :D )
> 
> \- Jes & Blue

Hinata stared at his phone with a weird feeling. He was laying on his bed in his small apartment and waited for the rice cooker to announce that his food is ready.

They had exchanged phone numbers with even more awkwardness than the whole walk before and with more hesitation than when their truce pact has been sealed. But in the end, each of them walked home with a new contact in their list.

Right after he closed his apartment door, Hinata has changed his name to ‘Bakageyama’ and he was sure Kageyama had changed his too. It still didn’t feel right for him and it looked like a strange insect between all the names of his friends and family, which he had decorated with colourful emojis, but maybe it was a step into a direction. Whether it was the right direction or not couldn’t be said right now.

Everything about him felt out of place and too neat to feel comfortable. Hinata was convinced that no contact of him has an own picture or an own ring tone. After all, even his design room was cleaner than a new renovated house. Hinata groaned and rolled around, tossing his phone to the side. He’s thinking way too much about this idiot of partner.

A small beep sound from the rice cooker announced the end of his wailing in thoughts and Hinata’s stomach growled in response to the decision to eat something.

Just as he was about to stand up, his phone lights up and a new message pops up on his screen.

**Contact:** Bakageyama

**Sub:**  

Don’t be late.

Hinata made a face at that assumptious message and furiously wrote back not even a second later. He throw his phone on his bed after he pressed send and went back to his dinner, his inner starting to boil from anger once again. His phone remained on the end of his bed, showing his reply before going black for the rest of the night.

**Contact:** Bakageyama

**Sub:** **Re:**

Bet your ass I’m gonna be FASTER than you!!! (ง ⸟ _ ⸟ )ง

* * *

The next day started early. As result of his reply last night, Hinata set the alarm extra early and kept multiple alarms in his phone as backup. He wouldn’t let Kageyama have the satisfaction of being late.

As he made his way up through the fallen leaves, grumbling at the cold air and barely paying attention to his surroundings due his still sleepy eyes, he came to the point where he and Kageyama always part ways. Half expecting him walking around the corner, Hinata grinned to himself at the, in fact, empty streets to both sides. He let himself imagine his superior look when Kageyama turns around the corner and sees him already standing there when he heard fast footsteps moving in on him.

With determination in his eyes, his team partner passes him running, letting a suddenly dazed Hinata in his back.

It took him around three seconds to realize what just happened when his feet already started moving and eventually catching up on him.

 xXx 

“I…-faster!”, Hinata pants, trying to catch his breath as they stood in front of Karasuno, still wrapped in silence.

Kageyama, equally out of breath pants back before stretching his arms to the sky. “No, I-I was first.” This earned him an annoyed look from the ginger.

Hinata took out his phone to look at the time when he realized that except of him and Kageyama, no one else was outside.

The bright display showed unmistakable the daunting time of 6:50 am. They were way too early. “What the bloody avocado!”

“What?”, Hinata looked up and raised an eyebrow at Kageyama’s question. He rolled his eyes, probably annoyed that he had to repeat himself. “Why did you say avocado?”

The short one blinked multiple times before blushing slightly in embarrassment. “Oh, that. I’m not allowed to curse around my younger sister, so I use vegetables instead. I kinda adopted it in daily use.”

“I see.” That obviously was enough for him as an answer and he took out his phone to play some sort of game. Fine by Hinata. He didn’t want to share his family story anyway with someone who’s more interested in his own fingernails. He went around, kicking stones over the ground. They had to somehow get at least 20 minutes around since Suga had told him that they mostly open around 7:15 am.

Hinata still couldn’t get behind Kageyama’s personality, as he stared up at the grey sky.

The mantra ‘It’s for your own greater good’ which he tried telling himself was now starting to become annoying and eventually faded into a dull monotonous hum in the back of his mind. He was close to losing his mind with how grumpy Kageyama was with . . . well, everything!

 

Earlier than expected, Suga suddenly opened up from inside and told them to come in before they could catch a cold, but apart from the three of them, no one was really there in the building at that ungodly hour.

“How come you’re here then, Suga-san?” asked Kageyama.

“Aha, I forgot I had a report due today and left some documents behind so I thought I could get an early start and do the finishing touches,” Suga sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. “It’s a good thing I had the extra key too. But it’s too cold and too early for you two to be up and about? Why the rush?”

“We- uh, that is-” Hinata fumbled with his words.

“We wanted to have an early start too,” Kageyama swooped into the conversation. “We were planning on having more time to discuss the costumes.”

“Nice save, Kageyama!” Hinata mumbled under his breath for only Kageyama to hear. Kageyama said nothing; he merely made brief eye contact with the shorter male.

“Oh, that makes sense,” said Suga. He smiled warmly. “I am so glad that you two aren’t having any silly contests or arguments. Good for you!”

“Ahahahaha right!” Hinata chimed, his voice a tone higher than normal.

Suga raised an eyebrow, then shrugged, “Well, you two are a bit too early. The cafeteria should be open, at least so why don’t you get some coffee to get rid of the cold and then get started with whatever you are doing? Ah! Ukai-san should be here soon too.”

“The President of the company?!” Hinata squawked.

“Yes, he- wait you two haven’t met him formally have you?” Suga said, as realisation dawned upon him. “With everything that happened, goodness! I cannot believe all four of you haven’t met Ukai-san. Well, he is a pretty laid back guy so I bet it didn’t even occur to him either. Don’t worry! I’ll be sure to introduce you all to him later. Maybe when Tsukishima and Yamaguchi arrive too. We’ll go see him together when I go to turn in my report.”

“Ossu!” Hinata and Kageyama said together.

Suga excused himself to get on with his report, leaving the two to themselves. Taking their senior’s advice, they walked towards the cafeteria to see if Saeko was there. Fortunately enough for the two, she was there, sitting at one of the tables drinking something from a steaming mug and talking to a man; Hinata recognised him as the man who sat at the reception desk.

“Oh, good morning early birds!” Saeko chirped, waving them over with her hand. She stood up from her seat. “Hold on lemme get you two some coffee. Flat white alright with you?”

“Extra sugar please.” Kageyama said with a small nod of thanks.

Hinata smirked at him. Seeing him from the corner of his eye, Kageyama turned to glare at the boy but he ended up looking rather pouty, “What, dumbass?”

Hinata snickered softly, “Nothing.” It was mildly endearing that Kageyama, tall grumpy, stick-up-the-ass Kageyama, liked his coffee extra sweet.

Gap moe came to his mind and he thought it was kind of a fitting example instead of the flowerish princes his sister always speak of.

Saeko was quick to go get those coffees. She came back as swift as she left and handed the two boys the steaming cups, Hinata shuffled through his pockets for his wallet but Saeko waved her hand dismissively, “It’s on the house.”

“Tana- um, Saeko-san, we can’t always take advantage of your kindness.” said Kageyama.

“It’s fine,” Saeko said as she slapped her hand on Kageyama’s back, hard, nearly causing him to drop his coffee in surprise. “I appreciate you rookies coming to at the buttcrack of dawn to work; I really appreciate what you’re doing for the Karasuno family. It’s not much but it’s the least I can do.”

“But-” Hinata protested.

“No buts!” Saeko cut in. “Tell you what? You can repay me by helping me out in the back when you’re free some time. And of course, you gotta eat lots, sleep well and do a good job in supporting the agency and all it’s members too! Will you do that?”

“Okay!” Hinata cheered. Kageyama nodded and offered a small bow of gratitude.

“How are you all this loud and active already?” the man from the reception desk grumbled. Hinata almost forgot he was there. “I’m still half asleep.”

Saeko laughed out loud, “Keishin-san, don’t be like that! That’s your fifth mug of black coffee. You’ve gotta be buzzing with more energy than the rest of us.”

Hinata vaguely heard Kageyama mutter under his breath about how he couldn’t understand people who take their coffee black.

‘Same, Kageyama.’ Hinata thought to himself.

“You two going to get to work now?” The man, Keishin, asked them.

“Ah, yes!” Hinata replied. He then remembered Suga arrived with them as well. “Um, Saeko-nee-san, Suga-san also arrived with us but he went ahead to his office to work. Do you think we could take a coffee up to him too?”

Saeko nodded, “Sure, I’ll be right back.” She went in the back and quickly returned with a mug of black coffee which she handed to Hinata. The said male could feel Kageyama eyeing the cup with disgust.

“See you later, you two!” Saeko waved them off as the two left with their coffees, thanking the kind woman again as they left.

As they went upstairs, Hinata was extra careful not to spill anything. Saeko’s kindness was fine but maybe a bit over the top when it means to fill the cup until the edge with boiling, hot coffee. Each step was carefully calculated and he didn’t take his eyes off of it for a single moment.

They knocked on the door to Tanaka and Suga’s office and entered in a big, light filled room with a big glass side and two desk, separated with a screen. Suga was hovering over some papers with a big frown on his forehead and absent minded chewing on a pencil.

“Suga-san. Su-Ga!”, Hinata’s intense whispering eventually let him snap back into reality.

The light haired man took off his glasses to look at the two intruders directly. “Oh, hey. Is that coffee?”

“Wow, Suga-san. That’s a huge office!”, Hinata gasped in aw at the sun flooded room.

A light chuckle erupted from the kind man and a sly grin formed on his lips. “Right? I fought long to get this one!”

Kageyama stared out of the window, “This is a nice place.”

Suga grinned, “Once the weather gets colder, we usually move the desks here and arrange the room so that we are all huddled together. It is warmer here too; the sun hits this room perfectly so don’t worry! Soon, you’ll be hanging out in here.”

“Suga, you in here?” It was Daichi, who walked in holding a cup of coffee and a paper bag filled with something that made Hinata’s mouth water.

“Morning, Daichi-san!” Hinata beamed at him.

“Oh? Hinata and Kageyama, you two are already here?” Daichi smiled. “Good morning. It’s great to see you two not at each other’s throats for a change.”

“Right? I just told them that this morning!” Suga grinned. He then made grabby hand gestures at Daichi. The latter raised an eyebrow.

Suga pouted, “Aren’t those blueberry muffins for me?”

“What makes you think that?” Daichi said with a smile playing on his lips. He pulled out one from the bag and nibbled the edges, teasingly.

“Daichiiii!” Suga whined.

Daichi chuckled, “Alright, alright. I’m kidding! Yes, they’re for you. I don’t even like blueberry muffins, you know that.”

Daichi held out the muffin he nibbled on towards Suga’s mouth. The latter opened his mouth wide and graciously took a bite. Crumbs scattered across the corner of his mouth as he chewed. Daichi reached out to brush them away with his thumbs; Suga leaned in towards Daichi’s large, gloved hand which now gently cradled his face.

The whole scene before Hinata’s eyes was so domestic it made the ginger blush. Even Kageyama looked a little out of place in the room. For a change, he was glad Kageyama was there with him. It would have been more awkward if he were alone. At least, that’s how Hinata felt.

The two seniors seemed to realise their two juniors standing awkwardly trying not to stare at the two. Daichi pulled his hand back and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

“Ah, sorry. I guess we sort of forgot you two were there.” Daichi said sincerely.

“N-No, it’s okay!” Hinata chirped. He nudged Kageyama. “Isn’t that right, Kageyama?”

Kageyama nodded slowly, “I didn’t realise you two were in that sort of . . . um, relationship.”

“Oi!” Hinata hissed. “Don’t assume things.”

Suga laughed, “No, no it’s fine. He’s right. Daichi and I are in a relationship.”

“Oh.” said Hinata.

Daichi reached out for Suga’s hand, “Yeah, it’s not really a secret thing but we don’t go around telling people either. But I guess now you know.”

A moment of silence stretched over them before Hinata clicked with his tongue and showed Kageyama out of the room. “Alright. I- I mean we will go and...work on our...costumes! Exactly that’s what we will do. See ya later DaiSu- Daichi-san, Suga-san.”

The door closed and the two seniors heard a long groan from behind it; followed by several thumps and a loud “Get ya head in the game, Hinata. It ain’t something special.”

Suga chuckled and eyed Daichi from the side who started to blush slightly. “I guess you really threw them into cold water with that information.” He shoved him playfully in the side and laid his face on his arm in a tender motion. “So tell me. Do you have more of those muffins?”

 xXx 

They were in Kageyama’s room to ‘avoid being spied on by Yamaguchi and his ketchup bottle’ to quote Hinata’s exact words. Both had worked on some blueprint ideas over the night and so those were laid out on the table. The bright and unusual colors from Hinata were nothing against the simple designs which still manage to capture the key point of each character from Kageyama and vica versa. And both knew this, yet no one dared to acknowledge it or, lord behave, even consider backing down from their original idea.

Eventually, Kageyama noticed that instead of Hinata’s energetic bantering he lost his focus a lot and had to be reminded to snap back to the present by him multiple times. “Oi! I don’t need someone on my team who has his head up in the clouds.”

“Mh? Oh, sorry. Yeah, yeah, we can do it like this.”

Kageyama sighed, “I don’t know how we’re going to make this work but we have to. So you just listen to me and we will get over the line, alright?”

“HAH? And you expect me to just go along with that?” Hinata exclaimed. “It’s a ‘team’ effort, Bakageyama! Sheesh, just cause you’re some king or something doesn’t make you the greatest.”

The last bit came out mumbled but Kageyama caught it and glared, “I said _don’t_ call me that.”

Hinata gulped. Right; this guy didn’t like being called ‘king’. But time was running out and the two were still heading nowhere with their planning.

“Um,” a voice cut in. Both of them turned to look at Asahi who stood at the door with a sheepish smile, holding a bundle of fabric pieces. “How’s it going with the planning?”

Kageyama and Hinata glanced at each other before they turned back to Asahi and replied in union, “Terrible.”

Asahi chuckled, “You know, you two probably don’t realise it but you’re pretty in-sync for people who are struggling to get along with each other. Well, maybe you just need a push in the right direction. Do you guys have a minute?”

The two nodded. Asahi entered the room and placed the fabric pieces in his arms on the table and started smoothing them out. Hinata gasped as he picked up a particular piece; bright red and glittery, which shimmered like a river of blood in the light.

“I saw a couple of your designs and the contradictions in your respective ideas,” said Asahi, as he pinched a pale yellow ribbon between his index and thumb finger. “It is your task to bring your ideas together into one but sometimes, having two different visions in one design without a compromise is the thing that makes costumes interesting.”

Asahi held out his hand to Hinata. Hinata handed back the red piece to Asahi, who then picked up a rich indigo coloured piece, perhaps velvet, which Kageyama had been eyeing.

“Sometimes, drawings on paper shouldn’t be speculated so much; it’s just a blueprint after all. What matters if what you make of it. If you bring it to life, you’ll have a clearer idea of what you want your design to be and people will understand you better too.That’s why I brought these spare pieces over, just so you can give each other a rough idea of what you want the other to see.” He placed the vibrant red piece in Kageyama’s hand and the indigo one in Hinata’s.

“If explaining it to each other verbally isn’t working out, why not _show_ each other?” Asahi said with a smile.

Kageyama and Hinata looked at each other. It was a start; the push they were looking for. They turned their attention back to Asahi and bowed their heads low, “Thank you very much, Asahi-san!”

The sudden exclamation made Asahi let out a squeak but he regained his composure and let out a quiet laugh, “I’m glad I was of some help. Trust me, we all have our fair share of troubles. But I learned that you don’t have to bear your burdens alone. Karasuno is more than just a workplace; it is like family and you can count on the people here to be there for you.”

Hinata was brimming with joy; this is what he always wanted. A team of people with the same interests and the same goal as him. People whom he could rely upon and people he wanted to work hard to support and be there for. He turned with a grin to look at Kageyama; surely, he must be feeling happy too.

The look on Kageyama’s face was not happiness but genuine surprise. He looked awestruck and even a little touched. Hinata vaguely wondered what sort of team Kageyama worked with before Karasuno; definitely a group of elites but he didn’t think about Kageyama’s relationship with his team members.

Asahi took his leave, saying he had to meet Tsukishima and Yamaguchi for their designs.

A moment of silence passed and this time Kageyama broke it.

“I envy the burst of spontaneity you possess in creating your designs, not matter how crazy it might be!” Kageyama declared.

“Eh?” Hinata said, processing everything. He blinked, staring blankly at him.   

“But,” Kageyama continued. “Your crazy designs mostly lack sense and sometimes I wonder if you are high on something when you’re drawing these out.”

“High!” Hinata squawked. “Oi! You-”

“That is why,” Kageyama cut in. “I am going to bring all that random and frankly annoying bursts of energy and enthusiasm you have! I am going to grab hold of each and every blasphemous theories you throw my way and I am going to mould them with my own capabilities.” Kageyama pointed at Hinata.

A few seconds passed before Hinata crossed his arms and replied, “I do not get high when I’m drawing.”

Kageyama grabbed Hinata’s head and squeezed, making the latter cry out in pain.

The commotion was interrupted by a growl that resonated across the room, the source being Kageyama’s stomach. Kageyama blushed and let go of Hinata who was giggling up a storm.

“Shut up, dumbass! It’s time for lunch anyways.” And with that he stormed out of the room.

Hinata looked out the window; they had spent the entire morning bickering away. But thanks to Asahi, they were finally making progress.

Hinata raced out of the room, “Bakageyama, no fair you got a head start!”

 xXx 

Later that day they had indeed managed to get one costume as good as done and Kageyama did as he told. Various post-its were plastered over Hinata’s blueprints with notes and sketches on it. Some parts had to be designed again from a scratch but if Kageyama was willing to use his design as base without complains, Hinata would accept some changes on his side.

In the end, the mannequin wore a velvet colored cloak with a classical black uniform beneath which was drawn through by the bright red and glittery fabric they’ve seen before. To finish it up, it had gold ornaments stitched in the front. Both parties were satisfied with the design and they just had to give it to Asahi to sew the difficult parts.

It was already dawning outside and the room was colored in bright crimson light. As result the finished vampire costume began to shimmer bloody red and Hinata beamed proudly.

“I’d say it’s exactly how we wanted it,” he said packing up his things, “If we work like that tomorrow as well, I’d say we’re good to go.” Hinata jumped eagerly from one foot to the other, “But first! Toilet!”

Kageyama sighed, “Hurry back. We still have a lot to do.”

Kageyama watched as Hinata scampered out of the room. He took this opportunity to tear his sight away from the mess and lay back, turning his gaze to the pale white ceiling instead.

Hinata wasn’t the easiest person to work with; he “ooh”-ed and “ahh”-ed every thing he stumbled across no matter how ridiculously off-colour it was or even if it wasn’t what was necessary for the task at hand. He was spewing various ideas at the speed of light, talking animatedly about how he could make each one of the fabrics and ribbons and ornaments work with each other. His exuberant expression of fashion and his fiery sense and intuition only invoked a major migraine in Kageyama’s head. Kageyama was pushed almost to the point where he might just pull all his hair off the top of his head in annoyance. The little shrimp and his motor mouth overwhelmed Kageyama in more ways than one.

But perhaps, like Asahi has said, this was the new leaf they needed to turn for everything to work out. Daichi needed a team player and although Kageyama was more than willing to partner up with anyone besides the ginger-haired shrimp (and Tsukishima because that lanky jerk’s entire existence pissed Kageyama off), he knew that Daichi set them up to the task knowing he wanted Kageyama to prove himself.

Kageyama squeezed his eyes shut. No. He wouldn’t go through what he did in Kitagawa all over again. He needed to show everyone that he had changed and that he was going to be the best and if that meant he had to deal with a pesky newbie with enough energy and brazenness to drive him up against the wall, so be it. He would take it head on because that’s who Kageyama Tobio was; a fighter.

“Kageyamaaa!! Think we can add these to our costume? These are so cool!” Hinata beamed as he walked in wearing a giant bonnet looking _thing_ over his head; it was a horrendous pink colour with red lace and a bunch of colourful feathers and plastic flowers held together by a single golden ribbon on one side. Kageyama opened his eyes and straightened his position in the chair. He let out an exasperated sigh for the umpteenth time that day in an attempt to reel in his irritation.

He was a fighter but the task he was meant to accomplish was easier said than done.

He yanked the silly thing off Hinata’s head, “Be serious, you dumbass.” Hinata whined in protest and mumbled about how Kageyama was only against it because none of the bright colours would suit him. Kageyama almost retaliated but thought better if it.

 xXx 

Hinata walked over the the mannequin and felt the crimson fabric between his fingers. He quickly tossed a look over his shoulder to see if Kageyama was looking. He was not; the said boy was hunched over the desk, furiously scribbling away with a pencil whilst bearing one behind his ear. Hinata almost laughed out loud because he found it kind of cute. Not that he would ever admit it out loud. No way.

Once he realised the coast was clear, he brought the fabric up to his lips and smiled. He then, inhaled softly; the fabric did not smell of anything in particular but it felt nice against the skin of his lips.

“You’re going to be amazing,” Hinata whispered into the fabric. “Everyone’s not going to be able to take their eyes off of you and you will be remembered long after the night is over.”

“Are you talking to the costume?” said Kageyama, who had gotten up and walked behind Hinata. Hinata jumped in surprise and almost knocked the mannequin over. He steadied it at the last second.

“No! Who does that?!” Hinata exclaimed, his ears betraying him by flushing as red as the fabric on the mannequin.

“You, apparently,” Kageyama said with a smirk. “‘You’re going to be amazing. Everyone’s going to be looking at you.’” It was a poor imitation, a bit surprising considering it was coming from Kageyama and if the situation wasn’t so embarrassing on Hinata’s end, he might has even laughed at Kageyama’s attempt.

“S-So what if I said those stuff!” Hinata grumbled. He absent-mindedly rubbed the fabric between his fingers again; a small habit he had picked up over the years when he got nervous, apart from the talking he did to his creations. He stared down at the silky material in his hand. “It’s just something I do, alright? Unlike you, who has had each and every one of his designs and creations praised, I didn’t have it all that easy.”

Hinata smiled softly and let the fabric of the costume sleeve slide out of hand, “But I never ever regret any of my ideas. No matter how crappy or crazy or colourful or whatever anyone deems them to be, I put my heart into each and everyone and I cherish them.”

A moment of silence passed between the two. Hinata mentally screamed at himself for displaying a show of vulnerability in front of Kageyama; it’s not like the prodigy would understand or even try to.

Hinata was about to open his mouth and suggest they get back to work to avoid the awkward silence but stopped when Kageyama stepped closer and reached for the sleeve that Hinata had let go of. He watched curiously as Kageyama began to run his fingers over the material like Hinata had done seconds before.

“You’re going to be amazing,” Kageyama said, an echo of Hinata’s words. Hinata stood in shock as Kageyama continued to speak. “Everyone’s not going to be able to take their eyes off you and they’ll be talking about you long after the curtains fall closed and the show ends. I will make sure of it.”

Kageyama turned and met Hinata’s eyes, “ _We_ will make sure of it.”

The last of the light disappeared, enveloping the room in darkness; they hadn’t bothered to turn the lights on yet. But the reflection of the flickering streetlights outside provided enough illumination for Hinata to make out Kageyama’s eyes. For some reason, he couldn’t seem to look away, nor did Kageyama tear away from the gaze.

In the dim light, Kageyama’s eyes were a startling, electric blue. They were just as fierce and determined, just like the very first time. But this time, it held something more; something softer and much more mellow than when Hinata first met those eyes.

Whatever it was, it filled Hinata’s insides with _warmth._

**Author's Note:**

> Well? So far so good? Stay tuned cause this is just the beginning. We have plenty of laughs, twists and cracks in store for you :)


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